Best-Selling Home Features

New analysis of home sales finds the best features to emphasize in for-sale listings, and how much of a price premium they may bring.

Listings that mention some of these home features have been associated with homes selling over the original listed price. Steam ovens are at the top of Zillow's list, as listings mentioning them sold above the list price at an average 34.1 percent. Professional appliances (32.3 percent) and wine cellars (31.4 percent) rounded out the top 3. Home features associated with shortening days on market include open shelving, with listings selling 11.2 days faster than other, comparable listings. Listings saying "pergola" or "mid-century" are both associated with 10.7 days fewer on market.

We analyzed 4.6 million home sales across the country completed in 2017 and 2018. Sale price and days on Zillow were separately regressed on controls for home size, age, ZIP code level average home values, MSA-level home value trends, the year and quarter in which the home sold, the broad price tier of that home within the MSA, and an indicator for the presence of each feature in the listing description.

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