Shifting New Home Design Trends of 2016

As more young people look to move into the housing market and more retirees look to downsize, home builders have begun to move toward the middle of the market in 2017. Shares of both the most expensive homes (luxury, $500,000) and the least expensive homes (multifamily, $150,000) have fallen this year, while construction of the middle segments (move-up homes, starter homes, and townhouses) has risen. What does this mean for design? For the most part, it has followed the movement toward the middle, with a few notable exceptions.

The recently released “2017 Builder Practices Survey” by Home Innovation Research Labs attempts to monitor current and future shifts in home design by revealing the rise and fall of trends in new home construction. The following are some example of the home design trends that are shifting to the middle, matching the overall movement of the new homes themselves.

• Cool your jets: the share of new homes with jetted tubs installed fell from about 15% in 2015 to about 11% in 2016.

• Sorry, stone: natural granite and marble shower and bathtub surrounds fell from 12% to 9% from 2015 to 2016, as well as a concurrent halving in kitchen floors from 6% to 3%.

• More on floors: sheet vinyl, the cheapest kitchen flooring option, fell from a 12% share in 2015 to an 8% share last year. Meanwhile, the middle options' share (engineered hardwood and ceramic tile) rose by 3% each and the high-end options (solid hardwood and luxury vinyl) held steady.

• Don't sink: High-end sinks made of enameled cast iron and natural granite both saw a loss in share, while lower- to mid-range vitreous china and enameled steel sinks both saw similar increases. Meanwhile, low-end sinks made from one-piece cultured marble fell by 6 percentage points.

So where are these exceptions that I mentioned earlier? The main example is countertops, which saw a defined shift toward luxe. Despite being generally the most expensive countertop material, quartz had its best year in 2016, growing from a 9% share to a 13% share in new home bathrooms, and from 9% to 15% in new home kitchens (we've talked about it before). At the same time, the share of the lowest end of the cost spectrum (one-piece cultured marble) dropped from 24% to 18%.

Faucet finishes also showed some conflict in regard to the middling trend. For the first time in the survey's history, nickel-finished faucets outsold stainless steel, chrome, bronze, and others for the title of most popular in kitchens. The story was similar in bathrooms, with nickel gaining ground on all other major categories except for chrome, which barely hung on to its traditional top position.