If your listing has two master bedrooms, you may very well have a highly desired feature that many couples want in their next home and are willing to pay extra for.
Among the top 10 percent of markets nationwide, active listings that include multiple master bedrooms are priced, on average, about 9 percent higher than those with just one master, according to a realtor.com® analysis.
Luxury home builders are taking notice of the growth in demand. A 2016 survey by John Burns Real Estate Consulting found that nearly one in three potential home buyers in the $2 million and above price range said they wanted dual master bedrooms.
“This was the first survey where we asked about a dual master—prior to this year, it wasn’t on the radar at all,” says Pete Reeb, a principal with John Burns Real Estate Consulting.
Some couples are finding separate bedrooms a must.
“There has been this stigma about people sleeping apart,” says Wendy Troxel, a clinical psychologist and senior behavioral scientist at the Rand Corp. “But perhaps we are moving more toward this acceptance that there is not one-size-fits-all.”
Some people desire two masters because they’re struggling to get to sleep, such as due to insomnia, snoring, or REM sleep behavior, says Rafael Pelayo, a clinical professor of psychiatry and sleep specialist at Stanford Sleep Medicine Center.
“Separate bedrooms are a reflection of the fact that it’s an older population with more disposable income, and that they value their sleep more—and are ready to invest more in it,” Pelayo says.
Also leading to higher demand for extra masters: multigenerational living. Elderly parents and boomerang offspring are expressing more desires for larger separate bedroom areas, housing analysts note.
Source: “The Secret to a Happy Marriage? Two Master Bedrooms,” The Wall Street Journal (March 16, 2017)
