Zillow research suggests the color of a home’s front door can change what buyers are willing to offer by thousands of dollars.
Light blue-green produced the biggest premium in Zillow’s study, adding as much as $5,023 when paired with an all-white house.
But matching matters: A red door on a light-brick home could reduce what buyers are willing to pay by as much as $6,738.
Homeowners getting ready to sell often spend thousands of dollars sprucing up kitchens, bathrooms and landscaping. But Zillow says one of the changes that could influence buyers the most may require little more than a can of paint.
New Zillow research finds that the color of a home's front door can affect how much prospective buyers say they are willing to pay — sometimes by several thousand dollars. But the findings come with an important catch: The best color depends heavily on the exterior of the house.
Zillow studied buyer reactions to four types of home exteriors — light brick, solid white, white wood combined with light brick, and dark red brick. Researchers compared doors painted dark gray, light blue-green, yellow and red against a white-door baseline.
The results suggest sellers shouldn't simply pick the year's trendiest color.
Light blue-green is a winner — on the right house
For an all-white house, Zillow found that a light blue-green front door delivered the largest potential payoff of any combination in the study. Buyers indicated they would pay as much as $5,023 more for the home compared with one with a white door.
The same color also performed well against dark red brick, potentially increasing offers by $2,460.
But put that light blue-green door on a light-brick house and the result reversed. Buyers indicated they might pay $4,221 less than they would for the same house with a white door.
Red can be an expensive gamble
A red front door is often used to make a house stand out, but Zillow's findings suggest sellers should be especially careful with it.
On a solid-white house, red performed well, potentially adding about $2,512 to an offer. But on a light-brick house, a red door reduced buyers' willingness to pay by as much as $6,738 — the largest potential penalty among the combinations Zillow studied.
A red door on a white-and-light-brick exterior also performed poorly, lowering prospective offers by about $3,953.
Dark gray works best with dark red brick
Homeowners with dark red brick may want to consider charcoal or dark gray. Zillow found that combination could increase an offer by as much as $3,753 compared with a white door.
Again, however, context matters. A dark gray door on a light-brick house could lower an offer by as much as $3,741.
Yellow showed a similar pattern. Buyers indicated they would pay an average of $1,966 more for an all-white home with a yellow door, but $2,907 less when yellow was paired with light brick.
Zillow distilled its findings into a fairly straightforward guide. For an all-white house, light blue-green, yellow or red performed well. For light brick, white was the safest choice. White or yellow worked for a white-and-light-brick exterior, while dark gray or white performed best with dark red brick.
The larger lesson may be even simpler: The more visually complicated the exterior, the more buyers appear to appreciate a neutral front door. A simple exterior, meanwhile, may benefit from a splash of color.