On the evidence available, most renovations don't pay for themselves when you sell. The best returns came from small jobs, such as refinishing timber floors. Big kitchen and bathroom renovations, and additions such as an extra bathroom, usually returned less than they cost.

That evidence is American, and it's estimates rather than sales. We found no Australian study that measures how much a kitchen, bathroom or similar renovation adds to a sale price. So the best test for your home is local: whether recent sales near you show buyers paying more than the job would cost you.

Cheaper preparation, such as decluttering, painting and tidying the garden, is a separate question. Our guide to getting your house ready to sell covers it.

Do renovations pay for themselves when you sell?

Often not, as far as the evidence goes. The two main US reports are the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com) and the National Association of Realtors' Remodeling Impact Report. In both reports, the big kitchen and bathroom jobs below returned less at sale than they cost.

In Australia, the evidence is mostly opinion. Ray White's chief economist, Nerida Conisbee, said in 2022 that it was "too simplistic" to say a renovation adds 10 per cent, because no two renovations are the same. Ms Conisbee also said it was hard to separate what a renovation added from what the market did.

The first of the two US reports, the Cost vs. Value Report, estimates each job's cost from US price data, and asks more than 6,000 US agents what the job adds to a sale price.

In that report, a minor kitchen remodel recovered 113 per cent of its cost, a mid-range major kitchen remodel 51 per cent and an upscale one 36 per cent. Bathrooms followed the same pattern: a mid-range bathroom remodel recovered 80 per cent of its cost, and an upscale one 42 per cent.

The second, the National Association of Realtors' report, asks renovation contractors to estimate costs and agents to estimate value. For some of the same jobs, its figures differ from the Cost vs. Value Report's. The table below uses its 2025 edition, except for floors, which come from its 2022 edition.

A minor kitchen update, for example, recovered 113 per cent in one report and 60 per cent in the other. These are US costs, US homes and US agents' estimates, so treat them as a guide to direction, not to amounts.

How can you tell if a renovation is worth it before you sell?

A renovation pays only if it lifts your sale price by more than it costs you. That cost is more than the builder's quote. It includes your holding costs, meaning what you keep paying while the work delays your sale, and the commission on the higher price.

Here's an example. Every figure in it is an assumption, not a typical cost.

• You expect your home to sell for $800,000 as it is.
• A new kitchen would cost $30,000.
• The work delays your listing by six weeks. Holding the home that long adds $1,000 a week in loan interest, rates and other costs, or $6,000 in all.
• Say your agent's commission is 2 per cent including GST (an example rate).

Together, the kitchen and the delay cost you $36,000 before commission. Because commission is charged on the higher price too, your sale price would need to rise by about $36,735, or about 4.6 per cent, just to break even.

Put another way, the kitchen would have to recover about 122 per cent of its build cost. No kitchen job in the US reports recovered that much. The best, a minor kitchen remodel, recovered 113 per cent.

To run the sum for your own job, start with a written quote. Add only the extra holding costs from the delay, then commission on the extra price at the rate in your agency agreement (the contract you sign with your agent). Allow for the job taking longer or costing more than quoted.

Our guides to what pre-sale repairs and renovations cost and how agent fees work help with the figures.

Check what similar homes have sold for

The gap between what renovated and unrenovated homes like yours sell for nearby is a useful guide to what a renovation could add. Ask local agents for recent sales of similar homes in your suburb, some renovated and some not.

If renovated homes sold for $40,000 more and your job needs a $36,735 rise to break even, the margin is thin. If the gap is $100,000, the job may be worth a closer look. For a free starting point on what your home is worth now, try OpenEstimates.

Which renovations are most likely to add value?

Across the US figures on this page, small jobs such as refinishing timber floors did best, and big, upmarket kitchen and bathroom renovations did worst.

Kitchens and bathrooms

In the US figures on this page, a minor kitchen update returned between 60 and 113 per cent of its cost, and a major one between 36 and 60 per cent. A mid-range bathroom remodel did better than an upscale one.

For what these jobs cost in Australia, see our guides to kitchen renovation costs and bathroom renovation costs.

An extra bathroom

Australian houses with a second bathroom tend to sell for more. A Reserve Bank of Australia study of 2016 sales in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth found detached houses with two bathrooms sold for about 3 to 7 per cent more than houses of a similar size in the same suburb with one.

That's a difference between homes, not the return on building a bathroom. In the National Association of Realtors' 2025 figures, adding a bathroom recovered 56 per cent of its cost.

An addition will often need approval too, which adds time. Our guide to home extensions explains what's involved.

Outdoor areas

A US survey asked 1,323 people, mostly at home and garden shows in seven states, to value photos of the same house with 16 gardens. It was done in 1999 and published in 2005. The design they valued most was worth 5.5 to 11.4 per cent more to them than the one they valued least, depending on the US state.

That's what people said, not what homes sold for. Our guides cover whether landscaping adds value and what landscaping costs.

Floors

In the National Association of Realtors' 2022 report, refinishing existing timber floors recovered an estimated 147 per cent of its cost, and new timber floors 118 per cent. If you have timber under old carpet, it's worth asking what sanding and polishing it would cost.

Cooling and solar

The Reserve Bank study found that, in 2016 sales, houses with air conditioning sold for about 1 to 4 per cent more than houses of a similar size without it.

A 2025 valuation model from property data firm Cotality estimated that houses with solar panels were worth about 2.7 per cent more than comparable houses without. In the same model, each extra star on a home's estimated energy rating was worth about 1.3 per cent more.

Again, those are differences between homes, not what you'd get back from installing air conditioning or panels. A 2021 Australian National University study also found that solar's estimated effect on house prices shrinks once households' financial assets are allowed for. There's more in our guide to whether solar adds value.

Can a renovation add $50,000 or $100,000?

It can happen, but the evidence we've found doesn't show it's usual. For scale, on the $800,000 home in our example, the Reserve Bank's 3 to 7 per cent for a second bathroom would be about $24,000 to $56,000. And that's the gap between homes that already have one, before you pay to build it.

Agents and buyers price a home against recent sales of similar homes nearby. So if a builder or a friend has told you a job will add $50,000, ask them which recent sales near you show it.

Which renovations can lose you money?

In the US figures on this page, big, upmarket kitchen and bathroom jobs lost the most, and adding a bathroom recovered only about half its cost.

Overcapitalising is another way to lose money. It means spending so much that your home would need to sell for more than similar homes in your suburb sell for. Buyers compare your price with those sales, so they may not pay that much.

Pools show why a price gap isn't a return. The Reserve Bank study found houses with a pool sold for about 5 to 7 per cent more, but that doesn't mean building one pays. More examples are in our guide to renovations that don't add value.

What should you check before you start?

Three things: whether the job can be done before you list, whether it needs approval, and whether you might stay.

Time. Work out when you want to list, then ask whether the job can be finished, cleaned up and photographed before then.

Approvals. Some work needs approval before it starts, and the rules differ by state. In NSW, a kitchen or bathroom renovation can be "exempt development", which needs no planning or building approval.

Among other things, the exemption doesn't apply if the work removes a wall, changes a room's layout or affects anything load-bearing or fire-resisting, or if the home is heritage listed.

If your home is in a NSW strata scheme, such as an apartment or townhouse, a kitchen renovation or new hard flooring also needs approval. That comes from the owners corporation (made up of all the owners) or the strata committee.

In a NSW strata scheme, a bathroom renovation needs a special resolution, which is a formal vote at a general meeting of the owners. So does any work that needs waterproofing or changes the structure.

In Victoria, all building work needs a building permit unless the regulations exempt it. Structural changes, removing a load-bearing wall and building a deck attached to the house all need one, and a planning permit may be needed as well.

In other states, ask your council what the job needs.

Your plans. If you might stay a few more years, you'd also get the use of the work, which changes the sum. Our guide to whether to renovate or sell weighs up staying against moving.

What to ask local agents before you renovate

A local agent sees what buyers in your area pay for and what they mark a price down for. Ask two or three before you commit to a job, and add these to your questions for a real estate agent:

• What do buyers at my price expect in this area?
• What would they mark my price down for, and what would they overlook?
• Which recent sales, renovated and unrenovated, would you compare my home with?
• Would this job change the price range you'd list my home in?
• Would you list my home as it is, or do this job first?

If their answers differ, ask each one to show you the sales behind their view. For the steps from there, see our guide to how to sell your property.

Sources

• Ray White, Nerida Conisbee, How much does renovating add to the value of your home?, October 2022.
• Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report, www.costvsvalue.com, US national averages. © 2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware Corporation. Complete data from the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.
• National Association of Realtors, 2025 Remodeling Impact Report and 2022 Remodeling Impact Report.
• Reserve Bank of Australia, Kendall and Tulip, The Effect of Zoning on Housing Prices, Appendix B, March 2018, using 2016 sales.
• Behe and others, Landscape Plant Material, Size, and Design Sophistication Increase Perceived Home Value, Journal of Environmental Horticulture, 2005.
• Cotality, Watt's it Worth?, September 2025.
• Australian National University, Effects of rooftop solar on housing prices in Australia, 2021.
• NSW Government, State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008, sections 2.51 and 2.52.
• Building and Plumbing Commission (Victoria), When is a building permit required?, June 2026.
• Maroondah City Council, Do I need a building permit?, quoting the Victorian regulator's practice note.
• NSW Fair Trading, Strata living: A guide to the essentials for strata owners, August 2026.