Put Away the Shades of White: These Colors Yield More in a Home Resale

Looks aren’t everything — except, of course, when they are.

Real estate giant Zillow scoured more than 32,000 photos from home listings to see how paint colors impacted average sales prices.

What they found out may surprise you. It turns out homes with walls painted shades of blue or light gray tend to bring in more in resale dollars than those with white walls. In some cases, up to $5,440 more.

“Color can be a powerful tool for attracting buyers to a home, especially in listing photos and videos,” Svenja Gudell, Zillow’s chief economist, said in a press release. “Painting walls in fresh, natural-looking colors, particularly in shades of blue and pale gray not only make a home feel larger, but also are neutral enough to help future buyers envision themselves living in the space.”

Which House Paint Colors Could Mean More Money When You Sell?

Painting a room is a relatively low-cost, low-skill upgrade, but you’ll want to choose the right colors. Zillow’s 2017 Paint Color Analysis can guide you to the hues you should paint your walls if you want the most bang for your buck when selling your home.

So go ahead and put down that can of white, off-white, cream, eggshell, china, cotton, pearl or even unicorn white.

In the kitchen, opt for a light blue to soft gray-blue tone, Zillow recommends. Homes with those colors sold for $1,809 more. Kitchens painted yellow, on the other hand, saw resale value drop by about $820.

Bathrooms painted light powder blue or periwinkle can bring in $5,440 more on average, while off-white or eggshell white bathrooms lowered home sales by about $4,035.

Home sellers may lose about $200 having a pink bedroom but could stand to gain $1,856 with a light cerulean or cadet blue bedroom.

One room where blue doesn’t reign supreme is in the living room. Zillow found a light beige, pale taupe and oatmeal color tends to add $1,809 to home sales, while living rooms painted light blue, periwinkle, pale silver or pastel gray lose out on an average of $820.

Even the color of your front door can make a $1,500 difference. See Zillow’s full report for more.

Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She has grown used to neutral walls from renting but is looking forward to buying her first home and painting the walls whichever colors she wants.