A fresh coat of paint could help homeowners draw higher offers when it comes time to sell.
Buyers are showing growing interest in warm, comfortable colors over plain white walls, according to Zillow’s 2026 Paint Color Analysis. The highest-value interior paint choice was chocolate brown in a bedroom, which could add an estimated $2,277 to a home’s offer price.
"When it comes to getting the most out of your home before selling, paint is one of the easiest and most affordable places to start," Charlie Lankston, executive editor at Realtor.com, told Gxstocks in an email. "A fresh coat can instantly boost the appeal of a home the moment a buyer walks in the door."
Other high-performing colors included pale blue in the living room, which could add about $1,723 to an offer price compared with white, and charcoal gray in the living room, which could add about $1,509, the study found.
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Painting a bedroom chocolate brown could add an estimated $2,277 to a home’s offer price. (iStock / iStock)
In bedrooms, charcoal gray could add about $1,240, while sage green could add about $1,035.
Sage green was one of the safest choices for sellers. The color ranked near the top in every room studied, including bathrooms, living rooms and bedrooms, according to Zillow.
Darker kitchen colors also performed well. Homes with charcoal gray kitchens could receive about $1,373 more, while dark plum kitchens could bring in about $867 more.
The kitchen is one of the most important rooms for paint choices. The difference between the best and worst kitchen colors was nearly $8,000, the study found.
Meanwhile, some paint colors may lower a home’s sale price.
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Zillow said sage green was one of the safest paint choices for sellers. (iStock / iStock)
Ochre yellow was the worst-performing color in the study. Using the dark gold color in the kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom could lower a home’s offer price by about $18,164.
A fire-hydrant red bathroom could reduce offers by nearly $8,000, while pale pink also performed poorly in every room studied, according to Zillow.
Lankston said paint can be a good starting point for sellers looking to improve their return on investment (ROI), but it should be part of a broader strategy.
"Kitchens and bathrooms remain the foundational investments, and for sellers who want to go further, outdoor living spaces are delivering serious returns," Lankston added.
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A fresh coat of paint could help homeowners get a higher offer when selling their home. (iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images)
"Deck additions can see a high ROI for buyers who want those creature comforts of the indoors brought outside. Sellers who think strategically about where to put their dollars, starting with something as simple as a can of paint, can meaningfully move the needle on their final offer price."
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Homeowners should talk to a local real estate agent before repainting because buyer preferences can vary by neighborhood, according to Zillow.
The study was conducted by Zillow’s behavioral science team and surveyed more than 4,400 recent and prospective homebuyers across the U.S.
