Bathroom remodels add value

"An added bathroom has one of the strongest impacts of any home feature on single-family detached home values," said NAHB economist Paul Emrath.

The results come from in-depth analysis by NAHB of the AHS data, concluding that remodelers in suburban locations can provide their customers with a precise estimate of how much bathrooms add to the value of their homes. The recently released data, from last year's survey, reveals that a half-bath adds approximately 10.5 percent to a suburban home's value and a full bath adds about 20 percent.

Emrath said the results also suggest that homeowners prefer a balance between the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Adding an extra bathroom increases the home's value by a higher percentage when there are more bedrooms than baths.

"When the number of bathrooms is approximately equal to the number of bedrooms, an additional half bath adds about 10 percent to the home's value, and converting the half bath to a full bath adds another 9 percent, so one additional bath adds about 19 percent to the value," Emrath said.