Pool Envy: Renters Pay $70 More for a Pool
Pools come at a greater premium than onsite fitness centers
- Las Vegas has the highest premium for a rental with a pool ($174), followed by Oklahoma City ($170) and Tampa ($165).
- Rentals with pools in Denver, San Francisco and San Jose are less expensive than the typical rental in those metros.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As temperatures rise this summer, renters across the country might look for a swimming pool to cool off in. Having that pool just outside your door comes at a cost – a new HotPads® analysis finds that among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas, homes and apartments with pools rent for $70 more, or 4.5% extra, per month on average.
The premium for renting a home with a pool exceeds $100 a month in 14 of the 50 largest metro areas. The pool premium is highest in Las Vegas, at $174 a month. Oklahoma City and Tampa have the next-highest pool premiums at $170 and $165 a month, respectively. The average high temperature in August is at least 90 degrees in each of these metros.
Renting a home or apartment with a pool actually comes at a discount in a few metro areas. In Denver, renters spend $71 less on rent each month for a home or apartment with a pool compared to homes and apartments without pools. Renters in San Francisco can save $24 a month by renting a home with a pool, while renters in San Jose can save $3 a month. Renters should not take this to mean that adding a pool to an existing home or apartment would lead to savings. Rather, rentals with pools in these metros likely lack features that are popular with renters – things like new appliances, for example.
"Scorching hot summers certainly contribute to how much value a pool will add to a rental, but like any commodity demand is just part of the equation. Areas where pools are very common may make the premium paid for them smaller thanks to less competition for access to a relatively abundant amenity," says Joshua Clark, economist at HotPads. "An area's culture can also play a role in how people value pools – renters in Phoenix might value having a place to host a pool party, while people in Denver may prefer to keep the yard space for other purposes and take a dip in an alpine lake or river instead."
Renters pay a greater premium for easy access to a pool to lounge next to than they do for a quick workout. A previous HotPads analysis found that U.S. renters pay $62 a month more on average to rent an apartment with an onsite fitness center, $8 less than the monthly premium for a pool.
While single-family home rentals with pools can fetch a premium, they are more commonly found in multifamily rentals – buildings with five or more units, like apartments and condos. Among the top 50 metro areas, 28.9 percent of multifamily listings mention a pool, compared to 12.2 percent of single-family rental listings. Houston has the highest share of multifamily rentals with pools at 61.3 percent, while Miami has the highest share of single-family homes available for rent with pools, at 36.6 percent.
HotPads is a Zillow® Group-owned apartment and home search platform for renters in urban areas across the United States. For more information on the U.S. rental market, visit HotPads.com.
Metropolitan Area |
Median Rent |
Pool Premium |
Premium Percentage |
Share of Rentals with a Pool – All Home Types |
Share of Single-Family Rentals with a Pool |
Share of Multifamily Rentals with a Pool |
New York, NY |
$2,400 |
$81 |
3.4% |
17.6% |
17.9% |
17.1% |
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA |
$2,985 |
$32 |
1.1% |
25.0% |
20.5% |
36.2% |
Chicago, IL |
$1,800 |
$25 |
1.4% |
7.6% |
7.0% |
12.3% |
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX |
$1,695 |
$160 |
9.5% |
17.6% |
16.0% |
47.3% |
Philadelphia, PA |
$1,700 |
$73 |
4.3% |
10.0% |
8.9% |
21.8% |
Houston, TX |
$1,595 |
$120 |
7.5% |
16.6% |
13.4% |
61.3% |
Washington, DC |
$2,200 |
$5 |
0.2% |
11.8% |
7.4% |
31.4% |
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, FL |
$2,045 |
$121 |
5.9% |
40.4% |
36.6% |
49.5% |
Atlanta, GA |
$1,510 |
$40 |
2.7% |
14.1% |
11.5% |
38.1% |
Boston, MA |
$2,450 |
$42 |
1.7% |
10.9% |
11.4% |
9.6% |
San Francisco, CA |
$3,560 |
-$24 |
-0.7% |
16.7% |
12.6% |
32.2% |
Detroit, MI |
$1,320 |
$15 |
1.1% |
8.4% |
6.6% |
17.8% |
Riverside, CA |
$2,010 |
$106 |
5.3% |
25.7% |
23.7% |
43.6% |
Phoenix, AZ |
$1,545 |
$28 |
1.8% |
23.5% |
17.3% |
46.1% |
Seattle, WA |
$2,270 |
$18 |
0.8% |
3.1% |
1.5% |
14.4% |
Minneapolis-St Paul, MN |
$1,715 |
$74 |
4.3% |
4.8% |
4.0% |
14.7% |
San Diego, CA |
$2,765 |
$33 |
1.2% |
28.5% |
20.4% |
47.5% |
St. Louis, MO |
$1,220 |
$87 |
7.2% |
11.6% |
10.4% |
33.1% |
Tampa, FL |
$1,510 |
$165 |
10.9% |
33.0% |
31.6% |
44.8% |
Baltimore, MD |
$1,760 |
$7 |
0.4% |
13.4% |
7.5% |
26.4% |
Denver, CO |
$2,145 |
-$71 |
-3.3% |
8.1% |
5.0% |
32.5% |
Pittsburgh, PA |
$1,125 |
$67 |
6.0% |
7.7% |
7.1% |
17.2% |
Portland, OR |
$1,970 |
$59 |
3.0% |
4.0% |
3.0% |
18.6% |
Charlotte, NC |
$1,415 |
$24 |
1.7% |
10.9% |
9.0% |
36.7% |
Sacramento, CA |
$2,030 |
$138 |
6.8% |
19.6% |
18.6% |
30.4% |
San Antonio, TX |
$1,405 |
$146 |
10.4% |
11.6% |
10.6% |
29.5% |
Orlando, FL |
$1,565 |
$159 |
10.1% |
34.3% |
33.7% |
45.8% |
Cincinnati, OH |
$1,275 |
$86 |
6.7% |
10.4% |
8.8% |
28.1% |
Cleveland, OH |
$1,220 |
$36 |
2.9% |
9.7% |
8.8% |
20.7% |
Kansas City, MO |
$1,270 |
$89 |
7.0% |
10.0% |
9.2% |
25.0% |
Las Vegas, NV |
$1,465 |
$174 |
11.9% |
29.0% |
27.6% |
49.0% |
Columbus, OH |
$1,475 |
$54 |
3.7% |
6.8% |
4.5% |
22.2% |
Indianapolis, IN |
$1,250 |
$88 |
7.1% |
9.0% |
8.4% |
17.4% |
San Jose, CA |
$3,760 |
-$3 |
-0.1% |
18.7% |
9.9% |
40.1% |
Austin, TX |
$1,775 |
$40 |
2.3% |
13.9% |
8.3% |
33.9% |
Virginia Beach, VA |
$1,500 |
$91 |
6.1% |
13.8% |
11.7% |
27.4% |
Nashville, TN |
$1,535 |
$7 |
0.4% |
8.7% |
4.9% |
28.4% |
Providence, RI |
$1,820 |
$72 |
4.0% |
12.2% |
13.1% |
8.1% |
Milwaukee, WI |
$1,395 |
$42 |
3.0% |
6.3% |
5.1% |
13.2% |
Jacksonville, FL |
$1,425 |
$146 |
10.3% |
21.1% |
21.1% |
30.5% |
Memphis, TN |
$1,065 |
$101 |
9.5% |
11.1% |
10.5% |
14.8% |
Oklahoma City, OK |
$1,130 |
$170 |
15.1% |
11.4% |
11.1% |
30.2% |
Louisville-Jefferson County, KY |
$1,150 |
$134 |
11.6% |
9.3% |
8.8% |
17.3% |
Hartford, CT |
$1,695 |
$87 |
5.1% |
13.1% |
12.5% |
16.2% |
Richmond, VA |
$1,480 |
$92 |
6.2% |
8.5% |
7.4% |
29.8% |
New Orleans, LA |
$1,460 |
$22 |
1.5% |
8.9% |
5.4% |
19.3% |
Buffalo, NY |
$1,300 |
$87 |
6.7% |
15.5% |
16.0% |
6.9% |
Raleigh, NC |
$1,495 |
$52 |
3.5% |
17.2% |
15.4% |
51.5% |
Birmingham, AL |
$1,070 |
$103 |
9.6% |
8.8% |
7.7% |
32.7% |
Salt Lake City, UT |
$1,645 |
$18 |
1.1% |
7.5% |
2.8% |
24.4% |
HotPads
HotPads® is an efficient rental search platform for urban areas across the United States, with features designed for competitive markets such as map-based search, real-time notifications and detailed information on landlords and property managers that help renters spend less time searching and more time feeling excited about their next home.
Launched in 2005, HotPads is based in San Francisco and is owned and operated by Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:Z and ZG).
HotPads is a registered trademark of Zillow, Inc.
SOURCE HotPads
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