Investing in your house, how to increase the value of your home, Property interior

Investing in Your House: How to Increase the Value of Your Home

16 February 2025

It’s never a bad time to increase the value of your home. Improvements to your home not only improve your quality of life but even if you aren’t planning on selling or renting out a property any time soon, increasing its worth gives you more leverage for a mortgage and can reduce your credit utilisation. There are plenty of ways to get it done without breaking the bank, too.

Upgrade to New Appliances and Fixtures

Upgrading stationary appliances like split systems, dishwashers, stoves and ovens is a great idea because it not only boosts the value of your home but also improves your everyday life in your home. Even small updates, like changing cabinet handles and lighting fixtures or even something as simple as updating your doorknobs and taps, throughout the home can give a home a subtle but noticeable uplift.

Give Your Home a Fresh Coat of Paint

It’s important to remember that, while certain objective criteria are used to evaluate a home, it’s also a subjective process. You can take advantage of that grey area by ensuring that your home looks and feels newer. Something as simple as a fresh coat of paint can add up to 5% to the value of a home – that’s normally tens of thousands of dollars. It’s real work to do it yourself, and painters know what they’ve got, so it isn’t easy or cheap, but it won’t disrupt your daily life.

Focus on the Groundworks

Landscaping is a common choice to improve property value. Like smaller improvements, it doesn’t often disrupt daily living, and while the improvements may not be as palpable as a new dishwasher or ducted AC, it still elevates the home. With a few raised garden beds, some hedges or even just fresh mulch and new plants, you can spruce up the front and massively increase curb appeal. Nothing says home quite like an arch with ivy or other vines adorning a front door.

It doesn’t have to be all about the greenery, either. While not every home can pull off a fountain, those that can are instantly elevated by one. Other hardscape features like a pond or rock garden can add real dimension and character to a property that anyone will feel.

Invest in Some Renovation

If you want to take your home to the next level, investing in a real renovation is a sure way to improve equity. You should go into any major renovations with your eyes open because the cost can mount and the work can be disruptive to everyday living. That said, the upside can be massive.

Redoing a kitchen completely can truly change the experience of visiting and living in a home. A kitchen is the heart of any home, and adding updated cabinetry, new appliances and a fancy-looking bench top – especially if it’s marble – can uplift an otherwise unremarkable space and turn it into a room that’s a joy to spend time in. The return in value will be substantial – normally on the order of 5% improvement or more, usually delivering a 40-60% return on investment.

Bathrooms are another common choice for renovation. In homes with multiple bathrooms, this often causes minimal disruption, as they can be done one at a time, with at least one remaining in service while the other is sorted out. Fresh tiling, a new shower and/or bath and updated taps and shower heads can make a huge difference. Everyone wants that luxury hotel feel in a bathroom, and it’s often not as expensive as you might think. It’s often well worth the investment.

There are plenty of options that aren’t as disruptive and can still add major functionality to a home. For example, it’s quite straightforward to convert garage to office. Having an entirely new – and quite sizeable – space added to your home can improve its value, and for those who work from home, it is an absolute must-have.

Making the Investment to Increase Value

Improving the value of your home can take many different shapes, with a wide range of costs. And while it’s rarely a small job, improving the value of your home, and thus your available equity and potential retirement savings, is a step that few can afford to miss out on. At the end of the day, if you want a home to be worth more than you paid for it someday, odds are you’ll have to improve it in one way or another.

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