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2016 Trends in Home Features

Your Arizona luxury real estate investment should reflect your unique lifestyle and what’s important to you. Knowing what’s trending in amenities and features may help you refine that further and add new insight to your Scottsdale luxury home search.

The following features, highlighted recently in Realtor Magazine, not only reflect emerging trends in home features but also changes in our environment, which can lead to shifts in the choices of materials, construction methods, layouts, and designs. Realtor Magazine is the official magazine of the National Association of Realtors®, a partner with Arizona Buyers Agents.

Whether your next luxury home in Arizona includes these features when you buy or you decide to add on later, this information may very well lead to an “aha” moment during your search.

Here are some emerging trends and how they may influence real estate choices in the near future:

More Sustainable Homes

According to Realtor Magazine, industry professionals are utilizing materials and construction techniques to meet climate challenges. Because our natural resources are dwindling, it’s increasingly important that structures be designed and built sustainably and better able to withstand the impacts of climate.

Drought Awareness

Predictions are that water conservation will become as important as energy conservation, leading to more demand for water-saving measures such as water-smart irrigation sensors, composting toilets, gray-water recycling systems, rainwater harvesting, and low-flow fixtures.

Digitized Manufacturing

New manufacturing technologies make it possible for sustainable materials such as glass to offer new options in home design with an expanded array of colors, textures, and sizes of materials. These new processes mean that glass can also be manufactured with LED lighting built in, adding both illumination and sophistication.

Reclaimed Wood Floors

Many owners of Arizona luxury real estate crave authenticity, no matter how durable, affordable, and convincing the imitations may be. For example, demand is increasing for reclaimed wood boards, the crème de la crème of wood flooring, which wear well and have tremendous character.

Walk-In, Universal Design Pantries

Walk-in pantries and pocket doors, which are easier to open and close than traditional doors and save 10 square feet of floor space, are just two of many universal design features becoming more desired and “edging” into the mainstream. This is favorable for families with shorter people and children, and older adults who need greater ease of access. With better lighting and more shelves within reach, pantries are safer.

Better Integration of Indoors and Outdoors

In Arizona, bringing the outdoors in enhances your view of the magnificent beauty of our great state. Large-scale door panels provide bigger openings and easier access between indoors and outdoors for greater enjoyment. Yards will become more a part of homes rather than separate entities.

Softer, Layered Color Palettes

“Rose quartz” and “serenity” are taking center stage. Both reflect the rise of softer colors, along with the continued use of whites and creams, creating a more personalized, sophisticated design. These new colors are already turning up inside homes in countertops and backsplashes, but buyers may be inspired in paint, fabrics and furnishings as well.

Copper Chic Surges

Not the pots of your parents or grandparents, copper began its re-emergence last year as a more widespread alternative to stainless steel, wood, and other materials. More than just about the look, copper reduces more than 99.9 percent of bacteria in between routine cleanings. In addition to refrigerator, oven, and other appliance fronts in copper, buyers now can add copper sinks, door handles, light switches, and trim – in a variety of hues.

Enhancing Entertainment Space with Niches and “Back Kitchens”

Many home buyers, particularly those with families, realize that much of their lives is centered in the kitchen. Kitchen design is key to connecting family and other areas of the home. What’s preferred are kitchens with greater space, more design details, windows and light, and niche storage that’s built in to keep things organized and hidden. Another option: More home owners want a “back kitchen” where preparations take place and small appliances like toasters and coffee makers can be stored.

From the most current luxury home features to neighborhoods, communities, activities, schools, commerce and more, the Realtors® at Arizona Buyers Agents are experts when it comes to knowing how to meet the needs, and desires, of Arizona luxury home buyers in all stages of life. Not only have these exclusive buyers agents lived in Arizona for decades and know these communities well, they’ve raised families here too. Turn to us for the answers you need to find the home that fits your life.

Jennifer Fabiano, Realtor®, is a broker and the principal for Arizona Buyers Agents.

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