Does a Swimming Pool Boost or Hurt Your Home's Value?

A swimming pool can either boost or hurt your home's value, depending on your climate, what is normal in your neighborhood and the condition of the pool. A well-kept inground pool can add up to 5% to 7% to a home's selling price, but homeowners typically recover only about 56% of what they spend to build one.

Build a pool when you will use it for years and treat any value increase as a bonus; skip it when resale is the main reason.

Bentley's Real Estate is a Newburyport, Massachusetts brokerage serving buyers and sellers across Greater Newburyport, Essex County and Southern New Hampshire. Before getting into climate and costs, it helps to pull apart two numbers people tend to blur.

Value increase versus return on investment

A pool's value increase and its return on investment are two different numbers, and mixing them up is a common mistake. The value increase is how much more a home with a pool sells for than similar homes without one.

The ROI is the share of your installation cost you get back at sale.

Measure	What it means	Typical figure from the sources
Value increase	Sale price lift versus similar homes without a pool	Up to 5% to 7%
Return on investment (ROI)	Share of installation cost recovered at sale	About 56% (NAR Remodeling Impact Report)
Above-ground pool value	Effect on appraised value	Usually $0

That sounds backwards, but a pool can increase home value and still lose money.

If you spend $90,000 on installation and the home sells for a premium well below that, the pool raised your price while hurting your financial return.

Which is why we ask every homeowner one question: would you still build the pool if it added nothing at resale? If yes, the value premium is a nice extra.

If no, the numbers rarely support it.

When a pool boosts home value

If you answered yes, the next question is whether your market will reward you for it. A pool is most likely to boost home value when buyers in your market already expect one.

Factor	A pool tends to help when...	Why buyers pay more
Climate	Summers are long or warm weather lasts most of the year	More months of use; feels like a necessity
Neighborhood norms	Most comparable homes already have pools	A missing pool becomes a drawback at resale
Condition	The pool is clean, modern and well maintained	Buyers see a lifestyle feature, not a project
Type	Inground concrete, gunite or fiberglass	Permanent property that appraisers count
Lot size	The yard still has room for a garden and play area	The pool does not crowd out usable space
Surroundings	Patio, shade, landscaping or a spa feature	The whole outdoor area reads as an amenity

Case in point: before you build, drive your street and nearby streets at your price point and count pools. If most comparable homes have them, adding one keeps you competitive.

If very few do, you may be adding a feature your market will not reward.

When a pool hurts home value

And where the market does not reward a pool, it can cost you. A pool hurts home value when it shrinks the buyer pool or costs more to own than buyers want to take on.

Risk	How it hurts	Who it turns off
Cold climate	Short season; unused most of the year	Buyers who see a seasonal hassle
Safety concerns	Drowning risk and fencing requirements	Families with small children
Maintenance costs	Monthly chemicals, cleaning and repairs	Budget-conscious buyers
Insurance and liability	Higher premiums and added liability coverage	Risk-averse buyers
High installation cost	Typically $25,000 to $100,000, with only part recovered	Anyone running the numbers
Above-ground pools	Rarely add value; often seen as something to remove	Most buyers
Disrepair	Cracked, stained or neglected pools need costly fixes	Nearly everyone

Buyers without children, older buyers and budget-conscious buyers may avoid pool homes altogether. In markets where pools are uncommon, that narrower audience can mean a home takes longer to sell.

A neglected pool is often worse than no pool at all.

Buyers subtract the repair cost, plus a cushion for the unknown, from their offer, so sellers should either fix the pool or price the home to reflect its condition.

The real cost of owning a pool

Most condition problems trace back to years of ownership costs. The full cost of a pool includes installation plus years of maintenance, utilities, insurance and repairs.

Cost item	Typical range from the sources
Inground pool installation	$25,000 to $100,000; around $90,000 for an 18-by-36-foot gunite pool
Above-ground pool	$1,500 to $15,000
Safety fencing	$5,000 to $15,000
Monthly maintenance	$80 to $150
Heater (gas or electric heat pump)	$2,000 to $5,000
Pump electricity	About $300 per year
Heating	Adds $500 to $800 to annual utility bills
Winterizing in cold climates	$300 to $500 per year
Insurance premium increase	Often $50 to $100 or more per year

Call your insurance agent before you commit. They can tell you how a pool affects your rates and whether you need more liability coverage; skipping a required fence can put coverage at risk.

Property taxes can rise as well. In some areas a pool raises your assessment more than it raises your eventual selling price, so ask your tax professional or local assessor how your town assesses pools.

Our advice? Build a ten-year cost sheet, not a one-year one.

Add up installation, maintenance, utilities, insurance and repairs, then compare that total against the likely value premium to see your honest ROI.

Inground versus above-ground pools

Once that cost sheet is on paper, the type of pool changes the bottom line more than almost anything else.

Inground pools are the only type that reliably adds appraised value; above-ground pools usually add none.

Pool type	Cost	Value effect	Best fit
Inground concrete or gunite	Highest	Most likely to add appraised value	Long-term owners in pool-friendly areas
Inground fiberglass	High	Adds value with lower maintenance	Owners who want less upkeep
Inground vinyl liner	Moderate	Adds some value; liner wears over time	Budget-conscious inground buyers
Above-ground	$1,500 to $15,000	Usually no resale value	Family enjoyment only

That is, appraisers treat above-ground pools as personal property rather than part of the house. For a pool to count in an appraisal, it typically needs to be permanently installed and properly permitted.

An unpermitted pool can raise questions for appraisers, insurers and buyers, so keep your permit, equipment warranties and service receipts in one folder you can hand over at sale.

Pools in Greater Newburyport

That paperwork matters even more in a market like ours, where a pool has to earn its place. In Greater Newburyport, a pool is usually a perk rather than a necessity because of our cold winters and short summers.

Where pools get only a few months of use, buyers weigh whether one is worth the hassle.

The answer still depends on the specific home, street and price point, and heated pools that stretch the season tend to be viewed more favorably.

Our agents know which neighborhoods and price ranges treat a pool as an expected amenity and which treat it as upkeep. Bentley's Real Estate has been the #1 real estate brokerage in Greater Newburyport by market share seven years running, and that steady flow of local sales is how we read buyer reaction to pools.

National averages will not tell you what a pool does for a house in Newburyport, Amesbury or Newbury. Local comparable sales will.

Selling a home with a pool

Those comps become your pricing anchor the moment you decide to list. Selling goes best when the pool reads as a selling point rather than a question mark.

Step	What to do	Why it helps
Inspect	Consider a pool inspection before listing	You fix issues on your own terms
Repair	Clear water, working equipment, no cracks	Removes buyer discounts for repairs
Safety	Fence, gate and cover in good order	Eases the biggest buyer concern
Document	Maintenance records, warranties and operating costs	Transparency reduces buyer anxiety
Present	Clean deck, furniture and landscaping	Buyers picture themselves using it
Price	Use local comps, not what you spent	Buyers pay for current value, not your cost

And timing counts. A pool shows best when it is open and sparkling.

If you list in colder months, include in-season photos and highlight any heater or cover.

Pros of selling with a pool:

• Strong appeal to buyers who want outdoor living and entertaining space
• Can set a home apart in a neighborhood where pools are rare

Cons of selling with a pool:

• A narrower buyer pool in a cold-climate market
• Buyers may ask for credits for repairs or upgrades
• Safety and insurance questions can slow negotiations

Buying a home with a pool

Sit on the other side of that negotiation and the priorities shift. Buying a home with a pool is a long-term commitment with real costs, so look past the listing photos.

Start simple. Ask for the pool's age, maintenance records and any recent equipment work.

A standard home inspection may not cover the pool in depth, so many buyers arrange a separate pool inspection. Get an insurance quote before you commit, and ask your attorney how to write any agreed pool repairs into the Purchase and Sale Agreement.

We recommend budgeting your first year at the high end of the maintenance range, since a new owner rarely knows a pool's quirks yet.

Should you install a pool?

A year or two into owning a home without one, plenty of people start wondering about building their own. Install a pool when you plan to stay for years and will use it often; skip it when you expect to sell soon.

If this is you	Our read
You plan to stay many years and will use it often	Worth it for lifestyle; value is a partial offset
You plan to sell within a few years	The math rarely works; expect to recover only part of the cost
Most neighbors at your price point have pools	Installing helps you stay competitive
Few homes nearby have pools	Expect limited value; build for enjoyment
Your yard is small	A pool may hurt value by eating usable space

Avoid over-building, too. A pool out of proportion to the home's price is unlikely to pay back at resale.

Talk to Bentley's Real Estate

That proportion is hard to judge from national numbers alone. Whether a pool will boost or hurt your home's value comes down to your market, your house and the condition of the pool.

Bentley's Real Estate has sold more than $1.14 billion in Greater Newburyport since 2019, and our 60+ agents can pull local comps, talk through presentation and pricing, and help you weigh long-term costs with your inspector, insurer and attorney.

Call us at (978) 572-1200 to talk through your home and whether a pool adds value in your part of Greater Newburyport.