What kinds of floors increase home resale value?

When you’re renovating your property, either to rent it out or to prepare for immediate sale, ROI is a factor in almost every design choice. How much will you get back later for what you spend now? Just as much as upgrading paint, fittings and fixtures, the kind of floors you choose can have a big effect on resale value.

Funnily enough, it is easy to overlook the ‘feature factor’ of floors when you’re renovating. Don’t. Floors are the true constant in any home. Think about it: during inspections, interested buyers will walk into every single room of your home. They might touch a few walls here and there and take a look at the ceiling, but they will be standing on the floors at every single moment. Beyond visual initial appeal, the ongoing tactile influence of your floors is subtle, immediate and constant.

Generally, timber floors are the best match for Australia’s superb weather. When considered against sandy places, such as beachside properties and most of Western Australia, floating floors often make more practical sense than carpet too.

What are the flooring trends?

Floor trends come and go, but there are underlying themes (pun intended) that endure. Foremost among them is consistency of flooring types. Simply, a home should have a unified flooring concept throughout. That doesn’t have to mean one type of floor through the whole house. Rather, it means that the flooring solution matches room use in consistent ways.

For example, bedrooms – which are often carpeted for warmth, comfort and quietness – should each have the same carpet, thus bringing the interior concept together. One point on carpets: while once popular throughout entire homes, over the past 10 years they have been vanishing from dining rooms, living rooms, hallways and entrances.

This may be because hard floors suit high-traffic areas and also, in this era where home presentation is so crucial, they simply look more striking. Nevertheless, both wood and carpet are poor choices for the kitchen, laundry, toilet and bathroom, with their increased risk of spills.

Pros and cons of hard flooring options

While solid timber floors are enduringly popular in Australia, they do not suit every room and every budget. Let’s compare them with the various other kinds of hard flooring options to weigh up the pros and cons.

	Pros	Cons
Hybrid planks	100% waterproof – thanks to the limestone composite core board. Resilient – no lifting, cracking or buckling of your flooring as the temperature changes. Odour-proof, scratch and stain resistant	Floor preparation needed
Engineered timber	Tougher than laminate Wide range of colours and finishes Environmentally sustainable	Requires careful maintenance Can only be refinished 2 or 3 times
Vinyl plank	Inexpensive Low maintenance Highly durable	Floor preparation needed Difficult to remove if glued Less eco-friendly
Laminate	Inexpensive Low maintenance Easy and fast to install	Less eco-friendly Can look cheap Vulnerable to water damage
Tile	Individual tiles can be easily replaced when damaged Easy to maintain	Sometimes trendy, sometimes very passe Zero sound insulation Extremely heavy
Concrete	Industrial chic Extremely heavy duty Limitless design flexibility	Trendy now, but may soon look dated Moisture can penetrate Zero sound insulation

Hard floors can boost resale value

You can see that hard floors make sense on balance, especially when you are unifying the look of a house. However, the choice to install hard floors still comes down to price, room usage, buyer expectations and time.

Making the dollars and cents call on whether hard flooring is the best among your other options – such as, laminate, hybrid, timber, vinyl planks and tile – is tricky. As usual, the best place to start is by talking to a few professionals, including estate agents, property valuers and flooring professionals such as us at Parrys.

Get a variety of advice and quotes. It is likely that hard floors will still emerge your winner, and you’ll have the added sense of security knowing that you have good evidence you’re making the right ROI choice.

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