Sprucing up your property will increase its value, but for landlords, homeowners, or property managers on a budget, painting gives you the most bang for your buck.

To make the most out of your investment, you need to do more than paint, you need to choose the right colour. According to ConsumerReports.org, the real estate website Zillow examined over 50,000 homes to find a correlation between colour and selling prices.

The results were astounding.

Choosing the ‘right’ colour for each room can boost the value of your home, while the ‘wrong’ colour would actually depress the price. The study breaks down the value room by room, for a residential property:

Kitchen

Every real estate agent, landlord, or property manager will tell you that when it comes to selling a property, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms. It is also one of the most expensive to renovate. Painting provides an inexpensive compromise between price and value.

According to Zillow’s study, painting a kitchen yellow will add an average of $1,360 to a home’s value. The study controlled for all other factors and found that the best yellow to choose is a neutral yellow like wheat (deep shades could overwhelm buyers). White paint, which is a common choice for kitchens, did not increase or decrease the value.

Bedroom

Bedrooms are the most intimate room in the house – it’s where you start and end each day. Light green and khaki painted bedrooms were found to boost the overall selling price by an average of $1,332.

Bathrooms

Bathrooms, like kitchens, are one of the most expensive rooms to renovate, but a coat of paint can make a big difference. Oatmeal or beige coloured bathrooms boost the average house price by about $283. Dark brown colours, however, can depress the cost by approximately $469.

Dining room

In kitchens and bathrooms, you have the option of changing the plumbing, fixtures, and appliances, but there are only so many things you can do to improve the value of a dining room. Painting is arguably not only the most inexpensive, but most effective change that you can make. Dining rooms painted in “lavender, mauve, or eggplant sold for $1,122 more than other houses” while dark-grey rooms sold for $1,112 less.

Exterior paint

According to ConsumerReports.org, a fresh coat of paint, combined with basic exterior maintenance like trimming, pruning, and making minor repairs, will boost the value of your property by 2% to 5%.

Hire a professional

A bad paint job with the wrong colour is worse than not painting at all. It will cost you time, and money, and as a landlord or property manager you can’t afford to waste either.

At Refined Painting, our professional, experienced and insured painters get the job done right the first time. Give us a call and let us help you increase the value of your property.