Are 1st Floor Master Suites In or Out?

In home design these days, accessibility has become a buzzword due to baby boomers reaching retirement age. As a result, master bedrooms on the main floor are an increasing trend with new home builders. The website, BUILDER online reviewed the numbers to see if the trend will continue.

As vice president of sales operations at Frank Betz Associates, Laura Segers thinks the main floor master suite has staying power. According to the data from Frank Betz Associates, their top 100 floorplans have seen a modest increase in  the number of 2 story plans with upstairs master bedrooms (14% in 2013 and 15% in 2014). Meanwhile the number of 1 story floorplans rose by 2 percentage points. Segers says the bulk of their top-selling floorplans have master bedrooms that have no steps to enter. 

Russell "Rusty" Moody, president of Frank Betz Associates said to BUILDER Online, "I seem to remember this type of design appearing in the mid to late 1980's and it has been continually growing i popularity ever since. Our in-house sales statistics prove the trend is real and here to stay - of the current top 20 best-selling designs at Frank Betz Associates, Inc. [from the last two years] 17 are one story or master-on-the-main plans."

This design trend has staying power according to Moody's Analytics. Epecially considering the boomers need for accessibility, greater needs for privacy, multigenerations homes, and second/resort home markets that favor main-level master bedrooms, so there is no need to heat/cool the second floor until guests show up. 

Source:"Trend Check: How Popular Are Main-Level Master Suites?" BUILDER Online (2015)