The Renovations That Will Pay Off the Most for Your Home in 2018

New year, new home improvement projects? Whether you're dying to update your kitchen, add a half-bath, or kick back on a brand-new deck, it pays off big-time knowing just what kind of return on investment your dream renovation might deliver. And you're in luck, because Remodeling magazine has just released its annual Cost vs. Value report, which analyzes what you'll pay for various upgrades—and how much you'll recoup on that investment when you sell your home.

For this much-read report (which, by the way, is celebrating its 30th anniversary), researchers scrutinized 29 popular home improvements in 99 markets nationwide, polling contractors on how much they charge for these jobs as well as real estate agents on how much they think these features boost a home's market price. From there, they divided each project's upfront cost by the home's resale value; the resulting percentage gives you a sense of how well each particular reno "investment" pays off.