What luxury homebuyers want

Luxury homebuyer preferences are undergoing a transformation.

Once popular open-floor plans, gray-toned color palettes and smaller garages are fast becoming a thing of the past.

Today’s high-end homes feature dedicated spaces, utilizing warm neutral colors such as rich browns and creams, and integrating spacious garages that improve functionality and appeal.

Consumers are increasingly seeking thoughtfully crafted, personalized spaces that reflect their healthy lifestyles. With a growing emphasis on wellness, designers are incorporating innovative amenities that promote health and well-being.

We spoke with top architects and builders to understand how high-end living in Las Vegas is evolving — and what luxury homebuyers want in 2025.

Wellness amenities

Lifestyle primarily drives luxury real estate design trends, resulting in the current emphasis on home wellness.

Jim Hurtado, president of Hang Ten Homes and the general contractor for the 2025 Showcase Home, Vista Serena, explains: “This goes beyond a spa-like feel for the primary bathroom. Clients want an actual wellness area. This means an entire room dedicated to wellness featuring amenities such as Himalayan salt walls, cold plunge pools, infrared saunas, saltwater soaking tubs, red light therapy panels and massage tables are becoming increasingly non-negotiable for these homes.”

Vista Serena exemplifies a luxury home with a strong wellness focus. Its dedicated area features a Mr. Steam steam shower with lighting, music and aroma therapy, a Thermory Alder wood sauna, and an Air Bath that creates a massage of air bubbles.

“People are trying to be healthier,” said Martin Zapp, partner at KNB Associates, the company that produced Vista Serena. “I’ve noticed more companies are coming out with products to create a spa-like feel in the home.”

In MacDonald Highlands, Dan Coletti, the CEO of Sun West Custom Homes, has designed wellness amenities into a 22,177-square-foot home currently under construction. The home integrates an indoor sports court adjacent to a fitness room, as well as a dry and wet sauna. Outside, the house has a legal-size bocce ball court.

Other notable wellness features trending includes the use of biophilic elements, natural materials and tunable lighting systems that mimic the sun’s circadian rhythm.

“The tunable lighting allows you to automatically adjust the lights throughout the day to optimize your energy and your health,” Zapp said. “Lighting has a dramatic impact on the feel inside the home and is a critical component to the design.”

Home layout

Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced families to stay at home and function within vast open spaces, home layouts are changing. The popular open-concept design is transitioning into styles that offer separation and privacy between spaces. Consumers prefer distinct spaces for work, relaxation and entertainment.

“We’re seeing less open concept,” said Daniel Chenin, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, principal at Daniel Joseph Chenin, Ltd. “People realize they need spaces to retreat to and have separation. We’re back to a dedicated dining room, a dedicated living room, and a kitchen, but there is connectivity and openness between them.”

Chenin’s award-winning design, Fort 137, lays out the interior in a thoughtful and organized manner, with a designated communal space in the center and private spaces, such as bedrooms, located on the perimeter of the home.

“Every single facet of the home is thought through,” Chenin said. “When you’re in those spaces, they feel different. They are of an ethereal quality. There is a cohesiveness to it.”

Coletti sees the integration of flex spaces becoming increasingly common to accommodate the desire for functionality and adaptability among today’s luxury buyers.

“Clients want a space that can convert as their desires change,” Coletti said. “For example, the client may want an entertainment room but later on wants to convert it into a fitness room or vice versa.”

Coletti further sees the client’s desire to create a separate area for guests. The space is typically designed with a private entrance, allowing occupants to come and go as they please.

“The concept of casitas or guest spaces is coming on stronger,” Coletti said. “Some people refer to it as multigenerational, but I think it’s different. We offer semi-private spaces within the single-family residence for guests or relatives to feel at home without disrupting everyday household life.”

Wayne Gazzo, co-owner and founder of Palazzo Development Inc. and LUXE Design/Build, noted that buyers are prioritizing spaces for entertainment, including game rooms, theaters and wine cellars. He is nearing the completion of a sizeable home in the Southern Highlands community that features a range of defined rooms.

“Everyone wants an exposed wine room even if they don’t drink,” Gazzo said. “They want a showpiece when you come into the home.”

He also recognizes an increase in the desire to incorporate extra space to accommodate the needs of aging or illness, including allowing for potential medical equipment or other assistive devices.

“They don’t want to go into a nursing home, so they are designing the home to meet their future needs,” Gazzo said. “Like wider doors for wheelchairs and showers that are accessible.”

Kitchens

In luxury homes, the kitchen transcends its traditional role as merely a cooking space, becoming a vibrant gathering hub.

Upscale buyers are seeking kitchens with top-of-the-line, professional-grade appliances, expansive double islands, custom cabinetry that reflects a contemporary style and exquisite finishes that enhance the entire room.

“The kitchen is a priority area,” Gazzo said. “Everyone wants to go with high-end materials and appliances.”

Over the last few years, there has been a shift toward enlarging kitchen space and incorporating a hidden, dirty or secondary kitchen for daily meal preparation.

“You can have a kitchen that doesn’t even look like a kitchen,” Chenin said. “Eight out of 10 of our projects, we’re doing a secondary kitchen that is more the workhorse for the day-to-day.”

The profound impact of technological innovation on the kitchen drives the selection of Wi-Fi-enabled appliances, lighting and materials.

Expansive garage space

A high percentage of luxury homeowners enjoy collecting cars, requiring a dedicated space to store and display them. Today’s garage designs are customized for enhanced functionality and usability, featuring air conditioning, epoxy flooring, custom cabinetry, work areas and equipment storage.

Ceiling heights accommodate the integration of car lifts, thereby expanding the storage space.

“A lot of people like good garage space and access because if you have an exotic car, they’re very low to the ground,” Coletti said. “We are adding air conditioning because if you have an expensive car, you want to keep it acclimated to temperature all the time.”

Smart technology

Technology is rapidly changing, and with it comes convenience. Homeowners seek the latest technology to enhance their living experience. Integrated Smart Home Automation allows them to control their environment — comfort, safety and efficiency — with the touch of a button.

“The concept isn’t new in the luxury market, but the demand is higher for lifestyle conveniences accessible in the home,” Hurtado said. “Clients want to have all of the modern conveniences that support their lifestyle accessible daily and technology to control these areas with literally the touch of a button or tap of their phone.”

Exteriors

The shift in luxury home elevations reflects a convergence of sustainability, aesthetics and functionality.

“In luxury homes, that is the point of distinction,” Zapp said. “Modern design can look similar, so the point of differentiation is in the details.”

The exterior façade design intermixes materials such as metal, wood, stone and glass to capture a distinctive contemporary aesthetic.

“There is a continuous evolution of what we call contemporary,” Coletti said. “And that has a lot to do with the products we use on the exterior of the home.”

Coletti created a seamless, sophisticated exterior façade for the MacDonald Highlands home with interlocking sheets of Linarte aluminum panels detailed with wood and lighting strip inserts between the slats.

“It’s a unique look,” Coletti said. “It adds soft yet subtle lighting. The wall glows, and it looks amazing.”