This article was originally published on Nov. 3, 2024 on Kitchen & Bath Design News.
PALO ALTO, CA — Homeowners are increasingly prioritizing their personal needs during primary bathroom renovations, with the focus on a home’s resale value declining in the face of homeowners renovating to make their bath spaces more accommodating.
At the same time, homeowners’ investment in primary bathroom projects continues to rise, with the top 10% of bathroom remodeling consumers spending $45,000 or more on their projects.
Those are among the key findings of the 2024 U.S. Houzz Bathroom Trends Study, the latest in a series of annual reports compiled by Houzz Inc., the Palo Alto, CA-based online platform for home building, remodeling and design.
“Consistent with past Houzz research, homeowners are renovating for the long term, making significant investments in functional spaces like primary bathrooms,” said Houzz staff economist Marine Sargsyan. “While changes to layouts, shower area, flooring and plumbing may be unsurprising, what stands out is the growing trend toward ‘future-proofing’ homes for personal use and the needs of loved ones.
“This shift,” Sargsyan observed, “has pushed resale value considerations further down the priority list, as homeowners focus on comfort and long-term living.”
Among the key trends in bathroom renovation identified by Houzz were:
- Sustainability: More than 4 in 5 homeowners choose sustainable features during primary bathroom renovations (84%). While more than half of homeowners opt for sustainable design because of environmental friendliness, the majority of homeowners (69%) are driven by long-term cost effectiveness.
- Aging-in-place accommodations: Accommodations for aging household members also support long-term renovation goals. Of the 64% of homeowners addressing special needs with their bathroom renovations, nearly half (46%) cite the future needs of aging household members, compared with 37% of homeowners addressing current needs.
- Wet rooms: More than 1 in 8 renovating homeowners characterize their primary bathroom as a wet room. Known for its open-concept design, a wet room typically has minimal to no enclosure separating the shower or tub from the rest of the bathroom. The top motivations for choosing a wet room include better use of space (66%) and universal design (39%).
- Eclectic style: While the top three primary bathroom styles remain transitional (23%), contemporary (16%) and modern (15%), eclectic style has grown in popularity, matching the popularity of farmhouse style.
- Specialty toilets: More than 2 in 5 homeowners install toilets that are powered by specialty features (41%), over a third of which are built into the toilet (35%). Features include bidet seats (23%), bidet seats with water pressure (21%), self-cleaning functionality (19%), air dryers (17%) and heated seats (17%).