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Living in the Barbie World: How Much Would Barbie’s Dream House Cost in Today’s Real Estate Market?

Living in the Barbie World: How Much Would Barbie’s Dream House Cost in Today’s Real Estate Market?

With the much-anticipated Barbie movie due to hit our screens in July 2023, it's hardly surprising to see the emerging trend known as Barbiecore creep its way into not only fashion and beauty, but also the world of construction and interiors. With more than 60,500 people searching online for "Barbie Dreamhouse" each month, and the #Barbiecoreinteriors racking up over 1.7 million views on TikTok, here at Selco Builders Warehouse, we’ve used our industry know how to delve into all things pink and explore Barbie’s most iconic properties and interior design choices.

The property market is constantly shifting and can drastically impact the worth of a property over time. Barbie has witnessed this shift first-hand as inflation has increased the worth of one of her first homes in 1964 by 89.60% in today’s market!

Using our expertise in the field, we’ve analysed the most well-known Barbie dream homes from 1964 to 2021 and estimated how much they would sell for based on the current property market in Malibu, California. Not only that, but from skylights to waterslides, we also considered how much it would cost to incorporate each property's distinctive features into a modern-day home. And if you’re dreaming of living in a Barbie world, we’ve discovered what these vintage homes might have looked like in the present, using the latest AI technology.

Welcome to the Barbie world: Here are Barbie's Most Luxurious Properties Over the Years

To discover how much it would cost to buy Barbie’s dream house in Malibu, we converted the size of the original toys to square foot and sourced existing properties in this area that had comparable attributes in order to calculate the current asking prices.

Cost to buy a Barbie dreamhouse graphic

With the help of an inflation calculator, we discovered how much these homes would have cost to purchase the same year the Barbie Dream Houses toys were released and determined how that price had changed in relation to the 2023 real estate market. Additionally, we analysed the key features in each of these properties and using online sources, determined how much it would cost to incorporate these into today’s homes.

Renowned for being trendy, embracing femininity, and, of course, all about the pretty-in-pink aesthetic, here are the results revealing how much it would cost to live in a Barbie World!

Barbie New Dreamhouse (1964)

By implementing a range of patterns, entertaining furniture, and vibrant paint colours, Barbie's 1964 New Dreamhouse adopted the distinguished retro style boldness of the 1960s. The house also included sliding doors, a high ceiling, wide open spaces, and plenty of natural light.

Using artificial intelligence (AI) technology we simulated how the property would have looked like today based on these qualities! It should come as no surprise that this included a bright pink dining room and a smooth transition from the house to a tiny patio stocked with succulents that would thrive in the hot California sun.

Barbie's dreamhouse 1964

After finding a similar real-life home we determined this stylish home would have cost around £257.5K to buy at the time. However due to inflation, in 2023 the price of this property is expected to have increased by 89.60%, making it worth around £2.4M in today's real estate market.

The property was 2,100 square feet and featured just two rooms which suggests Barbie had quite the expensive taste at the time, especially when you consider that the average cost to buy a house in 1964 was about £15K.

Barbie Dream House (1979)

Barbie's dreamhouse 1979

Barbie's dream house tripled in size between 1964 and 1979, evolving from a one-story to a two-story design, extending from 2,100 square feet to 8,600 square feet. Overall, cost increased along with size because it would have required £4.8M to buy this property in 1979 and in the current real estate market, purchasing this home would set you back an additional £15M, coming to a grand total of £20M.

The skylight, open layout, and A-framed structure of this home are some of its other distinguishing characteristics. Additionally, as shown by our AI generated images, this property would’ve followed a Nordic or Alpine design with a frame made of oak or a similar treated timber, as well as a cute entryway with seating for visitors.

Barbie Dreamhouse (1995)

Barbie's dreamhouse 1995

Barbie's 1995 house was inspired by Victorian architecture, which is renowned for its opulence. As a result, AI redesigned the house with tall windows, a balcony, and a lavish porch. The property's distinctive characteristics don't end there, though; Barbie made sure to maintain the luxury design both inside and out by installing a private, luxury elevator.

Overall, incorporating these features into your modern home would come to a grand total of £29,100. Out of these, stained-glass windows would be the most affordable feature, costing between £200 and £1000 per square foot, while a private elevator is the costliest to install, ranging between £23,000 and £28,000.

Back in 1995, this property would’ve cost around £8M to buy. However, inflation over the years has increased its worth by 49.10%, and the cost of this property in the current market would be £16M.

Barbie 3-Story Dreamhouse (2006)

Barbies's dreamhouse 2006

In 2006, Barbie's dream home incorporated a magnificent spiral staircase to give her access into her homes generous three floors. In today's market, depending on the size, incorporating a spiral staircase would now cost a minimum of £900 and could go all the way up to £15,000.

At the time, the property would’ve cost £3.6M to buy and in today’s market its value would’ve almost doubled to £5.4M. It's worth mentioning that, according to our study, the price of Barbie's residence was 480% more than the national average for homes in the US at the time (£175,177).

According to Chris Lawson, Managing Director and Senior Designer at CK Architectural, this 3-story home has hints of a Mediterranean mansion with extravagant detail to the glazing and internal spiral staircases and, due to its smallish scale but intricate finishing style, would be estimated to build at a cost of around £275,000, not taking into consideration the cost of buying the land in a desirable area of California.

Barbie Malibu Dreamhouse (2011)

Barbie's dreamhouse 2011

A market crisis started in the early 2000s, and after 2006, interest rates started to rise and home values declined, depreciating real estate much below the original purchase price. The cost of building was reduced because of the falling value of real estate, as a result, Barbie's Malibu Dreamhouse from 2011 would have cost £1.7M to buy, which is 47% less than the 2006 property.

Altogether, this home would be worth up to £2.3 million in today's market, of which £10,500 would be utilised to include a luxury balcony and rooftop.

On the marvellous Malibu shores, AI has imagined this property as a real luxury home, and it even comes with its own hot pink Barbiemobile.

Barbie 3-Story Dream Townhouse (2021)

Barbie's dreamhouse 2021

It would be accurate to describe Barbie's 2021 dream home as the pinnacle of luxury. Out of all the properties analysed, this five-room, terraced villa with a pool would have been the most expensive to purchase. This property, which allows you to slide from your living room to the pool, would have cost £28.6M in 2021 and would now be worth £31.7M after a 9.40% price increase over the last two years.

Additionally, as with the 1995 property, this house also incorporates unique lavish elements such as a private elevator, pool and even a waterslide. All of which could be incorporated into your home for the hefty price of £116,300.

In keeping with the all-pink style, AI constructed this three-floor home in Malibu, complete with the state's iconic palm trees and a large turquoise pool, ideal for outdoor gatherings.

According to Chris Lawson, Managing Director and Senior Designer at CK Architectural, it is estimated the cost to build this property would be around £500K, including the external landscaping/pool.

There are many options and ways in which you can embrace the Barbiecore trend in your very own home. Barbie's ever-evolving taste in real estate gives people a variety of possibilities to embrace her style, from a wide range of designs, from Victorian to retro, to several unique and luxurious features.

Her 2021 home can serve as wonderful inspiration for those willing to splurge, especially if you'd like to include a pool and a waterslide at a cost of £93.3K. But if you’re dreaming of a Barbie dream house on a budget, one of the most affordable features is a skylight, which our research found would cost on average £1,450 to buy and fit. Or even fitted wardrobes, which are widely available for under £3,000.

However, you decide to embrace Barbie and her style just remember it’s all about pretty-in pink and making it fun!

Sources and Methodology

Methodology:

To discover the size of Barbie’s dream houses in real life, we gathered toy measurements in inches to calculate square inches; since most real estate listings use this metric, we then converted this to square metres to calculate square feet. The calculation of lot sizes was done by rounding to the nearest 100.

Images: AI-generated imagery created through MidJourney. Midjourney Bot is an artificial intelligence tool that generates art. It works by taking written prompts and then ‘thinks’ about how best to visualise these, referring to billions of relevant, publicly available image sources to come up with new design.

Average Home Prices 1994-2001: https://www.huduser.gov/periodicals/ushmc/winter2001/histdat08.htm

Average house price (US) 2006-2020: https://dqydj.com/historical-home-prices/

Inflation Calculator: An inflation calculator was used to determine how the value of the properties had changed over the years and work out the change in prices.

TikTok Hashtag data (accurate as of 07/01/22)

#barbiecore 244.9 million views
#barbiecoreinterior 1.7 million

Individual Home Features: