Homeowners are increasingly prioritizing their personal needs during primary bathroom renovations, according to a new study by Houzz, a platform for home building, remodeling and design.
The 2024 U.S. Houzz Bathroom Trends Study surveyed more than 1,200 respondents and found that homeowners are increasingly prioritizing their personal needs during primary bathroom renovations with the share of those focused on resale value dropping by 5 percentage points (26% in 2024 versus 31% in 2023). Additionally, the share of homeowners renovating to make their space more accommodating increased by 4 points, reaching 27%.
Regardless of the motivation, investment in primary bathroom projects continues to climb, up 11% from the previous year ($15,000, compared with $13,500 in 2022), with the top 10% of spend starting at $45,000. Reliance on home professionals also remains high, with more than 4 in 5 homeowners (83%) hiring professionals to assist with their bathroom renovations. General contractors are hired most frequently (46%).
"Consistent with past Houzz research, homeowners are renovating for the long term, making significant investments in functional spaces like primary bathrooms," said Marine Sargsyan, Houzzstaff economist. "While changes to layouts, shower area, flooring and plumbing may be unsurprising, what stands out is the growing trend towards future-proofing homes for personal use and the needs of loved ones. This shift has pushed resale value considerations further down the priority list, as homeowners focus on comfort and long-term living."
Trends in bathroom renovations reflect homeowners’ prioritization of their personal interests:
- 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 (56%), the majority of homeowners are driven by long-term cost effectiveness (69%).
- 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 cite the future needs of aging household members (46%, 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 (13%). 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 favor (5%), jumping 2 percentage points year over year, and matching the popularity of farmhouse style, which has held steady at 5% since 2019.
- 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%).
