Hello Folks,

I have been looking for rental places and places to buy in Perth. Is there a reason so few houses have a pool? It seems only a small portion have a pool.

Does it add a huge amount to the house price having a pool?

About $40k-$50k is a common figure for pool and landscaping after installation.

If you look on Google Earth It looks to me that Pools are very common lol

...because in the opinion of many, they are a waste of money. As for adding value to the house price, that's debateable at best. It could even reduce the value of the house. It's also obviously a bit dependent on where you live in Oz. Brits seem more enamoured by them than the Australians themselves.
It's a question that's been asked many times in the past and any time its mentioned that they may not be that great, its usually the trigger for folks to come on and tell you how great their pool is and that anybody who says otherwise must be jealous because they haven't got one.

Agreed, the problem is if you put a pool in, when you come to sell the house it limits who will want to buy it. If you don't want one you would't buy a house with one would you? Theres 80% of potential buyers gone......Get a big spa instead.

Contrary to what everyone else says, we wouldn't be without ours. Had ours put in when the house was built and to be honest, would rather have a pool than air con any day. It was the best thing we ever did.

After surviving our first Perth summer, i'm not looking forward to the next one without a pool!

If your coming to Perth and you have a choice it'd be have a pool all the way. Its hot here for along time

Plus they cost a hell of a lot to run, especially in Melbourne. Heating and cleaning etc etc.

Apparently they add zero dollars to the value of a house in Melbourne. Consequently they are not seen as future investment.

Perth would be slightly different because they can use outdoor pools more months of the year, but there would still be an element of people that dont want them or fill them in.

80% ? Guess it depends where you live.

A big spa is a good option, those swim spas look interesting, but never tried one.

Yehp swim spas are the way to go, very easy to maintain, and lower running costs because of good insulation, especially if you get an Ozone filtration Model.

A pool will add value if you have a really really big back yard, a pool that fills a small back yard often limits what else you could do with that back yard.. ie option for extra car port, decking or outdoor living. No point having a pool and no space for the kids to kick a football or to stick your 6 burner. This is what puts buyers off.

There is a bit of work involved in looking after a pool, but I would rather have a pool than extra lawn to cut every week. My OH parents have a decent sized pool around 60,000-70,000L but the pool area is only about 20% of the back garden but in my opinion would have just been 20% more wasted space especially since they have a decent front lawn as well. Really how much gardening does the normal person want to do?

The other thing to consider about looking after the pool is large trees around the area, worth having a pool cover to keep those pesky leaves out.

Yes. Anyone that has ever owned one will tell you that they are more trouble than what they are worth. They also have a tendency to devalue the house.

I had a pool years ago. Will never have another. A better solution is to get a hot tub.

I'm deeply considering filling mine in. Its nothing but a massive expense for an ornament which gets used a few days per year if that.

The criteria for me buying a property now is it not having one.

We started of thinking we'd like a pool. Then we realised most are for splashing around in not swimming in and we are not interested in that (no kids). So then we thought maybe a spa would be nice. Anyway in the end we got neither in our rental.

Thanks for all the feedback. Food for thought. I think the thought of just going for a dip when it is roasting really appeals and our dog loves to swim so that would save on the walking which alone is worth it