The Burrow
Jan 15, 2024
First impressions count when buying a house: after all, the exterior is the first thing people see before they step foot through the door. No matter how amazing your house may be inside, if the exterior is less than desirable, it could be stopping you from getting it sold.
With property prices continuing to rise and mortgage rates increasing, it’s a difficult time to both buy and sell property. For many people, adding kerb appeal might require financing their home loan to cover the costs, but it could result in getting more for your home.
With that in mind, we decided to see what factors can help to increase the appeal of your home, by looking at search volumes across Australia and the USA.
The people of Australia have spoken! These are the factors that provide the most kerb appeal.
With 12,100 searches a month, conservatories come out on top for having the biggest exterior appeal in Australia. Conservatories are particularly popular in Melbourne, with 6,600 searches for them each month, and 79,200 over the course of a year. To put that into context, Sydney searches for conservatories the second most, at 590 searches a month, and 7,080 a year.
Roof repairs comes in second place, with 8,100 people searching for them each month, and 2,900 of them coming from Sydney alone. Moving into a house with a leaky roof could cost you a lot to fix, so it makes sense that this falls high on Australia’s list of exterior searches.
With most of Australia enjoying sunny weather year-round, outdoor kitchens feature high in desirability, with 5,400 searches a month. A great place to socialise with family and friends, outdoor kitchens go one step further than a BBQ, with dedicated spaces for cooking, food preparation, and eating.
Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane search for outdoor kitchens the most, with Sydney residents googling them as much as 12,000 times a year.
Leading on from outdoor kitchens is garden design, coming in fourth place for kerb appeal. A well-thought-out garden can really transform the space; whether you want to use your outdoor space for socialising, playing in as a family, or carefully curating flower beds and vegetable patches.
With 3,600 searches a month across the nation, the majority of these come from Melbourne, with Sydney and Brisbane not far behind.
With 2,900 searches a month, window replacements and driveway resurfacing come in joint fifth place, with window replacements the most searched for in Melbourne, and driveway resurfacing in Sydney.
Both practical yet costly home improvements, it’s clear to see the appeal of both when you’re moving into a new home; and means you can focus more on the interior décor.
Now it’s time to see how America fares, and it turns out that for the most part, opinions differ across Australia and the USA.
With 90,500 searches a month for each term, roof repairs and window replacements both have by far the most kerb appeal in the US.
It’s easy to see why roof repairs is such a popular search term, given how prone certain states are to storms and hurricanes. Searches are highest in New York, Texas, California, and Florida, with New York accounting for 145,200 of those searches every single year.
On the other hand, window replacements offer both a practical and aesthetic benefit. Switching to double glazed can help to better insulate homes, which could result in a cheaper energy bill over the winter months. California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Georgia search for these the most.
In another tie, front porches and guttering installation both take the second spot with 40,500 monthly searches.
An ideal way to sit and relax in the sun, and catch up with neighbours, front porches add an extra space for socialising. It makes sense then, that the states that see the most sunshine search for these the most; with California, Texas, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia all in the top five.
It also makes sense to see guttering installation rank so highly. A necessary yet costly task, rain and snow can harm your guttering over time, and without it, it could cause leaks. States that search for gutter installation the most are California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois.
Third place is held by yet another tie, this time between greenhouses and front door replacements, each with 27,100 searched per month.
A place for growing tropical plants and flowers, many – but not all – gardens feature a greenhouse. And, given the search volume per month, it’s clear to see that greenhouses can be a deciding factor when it comes to purchasing a property. Texas, California, North Carolina, New York, and Georgia search for greenhouses the most, with Texans searching for them a staggering 28,800 times a year.
Front door replacements are equally as impressive as greenhouses, also enjoying 27,100 searches a month, with California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Georgia searching for them the most. It’s one of the easiest ways you can add kerb appeal to your home, and you can decorate it with a wreath if you’re selling during the festive season, or by using hanging baskets in the summer.
If you’re wondering what kerb appeal actually is, then it simply means how attractive your property looks from the street – so when it comes to selling your house, what’s on the outside really is just as important as what’s on the inside.
If you’re considering selling your home, then make sure you follow our tips to make sure your home sets a good impression with potential buyers.
Is your door old and crumbling? Replacing it with a new one will instantly make your home more attractive, and it could be the deciding factor in getting prospective buyers through the door. But don’t stop there: adding a welcome mat, some hanging flowers and plant pots can all be the perfect finishing touches.
Give your grass a trim, sweep away any weeds and stray leaves, and power wash your driveway to keep your front garden looking as tidy as possible. If you want to take it one step further, you could also plant some new flowers and give your fence a new lick of paint.
Another easy win to add kerb appeal to your home is to give your windows and frames a clean. It’ll instantly make the exterior of your home feel brighter and more modern; and it can also help to let in extra light when inside – another key factor many prospective buyers look for.
If you’re considering taking out a loan to pay for repairs and upgrades, you could refinance a home loan (or take out a new one if you already own the home without a mortgage) to help pay for renovations. This can be a great way of beautifying your home, especially if you plan on selling in the near future.
As Stephen Zeller, General Manager of Money at Compare the Market states: “First impressions really do count, and if your home is looking less than desirable on the outside, spending a bit of money to make it look more attractive can help you to sell it quicker, and potentially for more money. So, if your home’s been on the market for a while and you’re not getting much interest, hopefully this guide has given you some key takeaways in how you can make small tweaks to make a big difference.”
Sources
Methodology
To determine the seed list of exterior features, we gathered desk research from a number of home and design publications. The search terms per country were then selected by finding the keyword related to the exterior feature with the highest search volume.
We then ran the seed list of exterior feature types through Google Keyword Planner to determine the average search volume per month for each US State or Australian city. We then ranked the exterior features, the larger the search volume the higher the ranking.
All data is correct as of 15/12/23.