The ‘Barbie’ movie may have apparently temporarily triggered an international pink paint shortage – but here’s why homeowners shouldn’t fret if fuchsia goes out of stock

Of course, there were other factors that contributed to the global shortage that resulted after the Barbie movie cleaned out the paint manufacturer’s supply. The COVID-19 pandemic had severely impacted the global supply chain, plus the company was still recovering from the Texas deep freeze in 2021, which affected its paint production materials.

However, if you’re planning on selling your house anytime soon, it’s just as well if you can’t get your hands on pink paint. Data from online real estate marketplace Zillow shows you can get up to $5,000 more for your home simply by choosing the right colors for your walls — and pink doesn’t make the cut.

How homebuyers are reacting to color

Zillow surveyed recent and prospective homebuyers in 2021 to find out which colors they felt were worth paying a higher price.

Of the 15 colors the survey's participants were shown, these were the ones the consumers were most likely to increase — or decrease — their bids for, depending on the room.

In the bathroom

Light blue is the most popular color for bathrooms, Zillow found. Survey participants said a light blue bathroom would be enough to justify a 1.6% higher offer price — about $5,000 on a $290,000 home.

Neutral colors — gray, dark gray, light yellow and off-white — were found to increase the likelihood that participants would either choose to view a home or make a higher bid.

While light yellow was considered attractive as a bathroom hue, bright yellow, bright green, bright red and pink were all considered turnoffs.

“Buyers tend to veer away from vibrant colors in the bathroom, so it is best to go with a softer shade," Zillow says in its report.

In the kitchen

White walls in the kitchen increased interest in touring or purchasing a home among survey participants.

But interestingly, their preferred alternatives to white weren't just neutral colors. While light yellow and off-white scored well, dark gray, dark red and dark green also caught more than a few eyes.

As with the bathroom, participants were not keen on the idea of an intensely-colored kitchen. Bright green, pink, bright yellow and bright red all drew negative reactions.

“Bright red could decrease the price that buyers would be willing to offer by nearly $1,500, on average,” Zillow says. “A kitchen painted bright yellow was least likely to inspire intentions of purchasing the home.”

In the living room

Gray rules supreme when it comes to preferred living room colors, with light green, white, dark gray and light yellow also scoring positively.

Light green, Zillow says, “brought an average offer-price increase of several hundreds" of dollars.

The usual suspects scored poorly for living room color: pink, bright green and bright yellow.

“On average, bright green and bright yellow living rooms decreased interest among surveyed buyers to tour a property,” says Zillow. “Both colors, on average, had a negative effect on prospective offer prices.”

In the bedroom

Though neutral colors were the top pick for bathrooms, kitchens and living rooms, Zillow’s survey participants were a little more adventurous about the boudoir. Dark blue was the bedroom color that would most increase the average price consumers were willing to offer.