The Great British Exterior Trends Report 2022

The last couple of years have seen a massive focus on DIY, both for inside and outside the house, largely due to endless lockdowns giving us extra time on our hands. With the world going back to normal, there is sadly less time for redecorating, but the need to revamp the exterior of our houses has not gone away; house prices are more competitive than ever, meaning sellers are forced to do everything they can to add value to their properties and stand out from the competition. 

Dulux spoke to property expert Marco Helliwell, Founder and CEO of mypropertyadvice.com, about the importance of following trends when it comes to the valuation of houses. He revealed that keeping up with trends, whether it comes to exterior paint colours, garden furniture, surface materials or front door colours, can help increase your asking price by up to £20k.

With this in mind, Dulux has put together The Great British Exterior Trends Report 2022 to see what the biggest trends and patterns are when it comes to the colour, style and finishes of your walls, front door, garage, windows or garden fence. Dulux has a variety of carefully crafted Weathershield paint colours and finishes, which can help provide the ultimate protection for your home.

To establish what the top home exterior trends of 2022 are, Dulux looked at the most searched-for queries across the nation to understand the favourite exterior trends and how they have grown and changed over the years.

Biggest Home Exterior Trends For 2022

Refreshing the outside of your home can add value and curb appeal to your exterior. To identify the biggest trends of 2022 in the UK, Dulux has analysed search trends over the past five years.

The results reveal that house exterior, which includes our walls, is the most searched for exterior trend category overall in the UK. The next biggest search trend categories are front doors and windows, which can have a huge impact on a small scale. 

Marco Helliwell from mypropertyadvice.com provides insight into why painting doors and windows can help you sell your property more easily: “Some people prefer not to do work or may not want to do something as drastic as changing windows and changing the front door. So, if this work has already been done, this is very appealing to a buyer who is less hands on. When changing windows, remedial works are needed both externally and internally, so if you are buying a house which is in very good condition, but you want to change the windows, this could put buyers off because you will have to undo the internal works.”

Colourful front doors and windows are furthermore a great way to inject your personality and experiment with your home exterior design. 

Most Searched For Colour Exterior Trends For 2022 

Dulux has also analysed the most popular exterior colours based on the volume of colour-based searches in the past year. The results reveal that it’s the cool, classic shades that are the clear favourites. Grey is the top trend overall, which shows we’re a nation after versatility as it can be used confidently across any feature and works well with other colours because it’s the ultimate neutral tone.

Marco Helliwell from mypropertyadvice.com explains why grey is so popular: “The grey look enables you to have metal or PVC windows, which are much cheaper than timber, without it looking cheap. Apart from grey being in fashion, it is incredibly practical as it doesn't show dirt and wear and tear as much as white windows do. The grey is fashionable as well because it modernises less appealing non-period properties. We have seen instances where buyers want to be in a certain area, but don't have the budget to get a period property in that postcode so they are going for these properties then doing this work to them. A combination of putting a period front door and painting it the same colour as the grey windows is a great compromise.”

Grey is followed by white and black, which are both calming tones and welcoming colours that make them the perfect choice for the outside of your home, and they can also act as a beautiful backdrop for any coordinating colour. 

“Dark colours such as black are especially popular on busy and polluted roads,” explains Marco. “Pollution shows pretty quickly and makes a house look bad quickly. If you are selling a property on a busy road, it is not easy, so you need to give yourself the best chance of selling that dream with this trendy look and attracting more buyers. Your house will be one of the very few that will not look rundown, and people can really see the value of the dark colours in such a location – therefore adding to the value of your property.”

Biggest Exterior Trends Increases Over Time

So, we know what’s currently trending for home exteriors, but which are the trends you should consider as they won’t be going away anytime soon? We’ve looked at search data over the last five years to determine which exterior trend has grown in popularity the most.

The results show that exterior walls trends, including a dash of new paint colour or a striking two-tone feature, are the statement-worthy styles that have grown the most because of the transformative way they can bring drama and depth to the outside of your home. A way to make the impact last even longer is with Weathershield paint, designed to protect your home against the elements.