Welcome to the wellness home: Cold plunges in the garage, sunlight in every room

Jodie Booras is an obstacle course racer who swears by contrast therapy — as in, switching between hot and cold treatments — as her postrace recovery. She and her husband used to pay for numerous gym memberships and make a 20-minute drive multiple times a week to access the saunas and ice baths Booras needed to heal her aching body. That was until they decided to invest in wellness at home.

“The gym became unreliable. Half the time, amenities were shut down or out of order, and we’d drive all the way there just to find out,“ Booras tells Yahoo. “So we did some research to see if we had space in our home for a cold plunge, how much it would cost and the upkeep.”

They had a tub installed in their garage in early April and bought a pair of compression boots, which they also use for recovery. After just five months of having the designated wellness space, Booras feels a significant improvement.

“I go in the cold plunge five days a week, and I use the compression boots probably six or seven days a week,” she says. “I really have felt better, not only physically, but I feel it has a positive mental effect as well.”

With her new cold plunge, Booras is (literally) dipping her toe into the growing wellness home trend: a rise in living spaces designed with health at the forefront. Functional medicine practitioner Courtney Carmadelle, meanwhile, has gone much further. After her daughter experienced health issues in 2019, Carmadelle grew concerned about environmental factors and decided to build the house of her dreams — one made with formaldehyde-free installation and materials that shield electromagnetic fields (EMFs).

“I was seeing that it wasn't just what [my children] were eating, but also that lifestyle environment started playing a part in some of their health [issues] — sleep, mold exposure, frequencies, anything like that,” Carmadelle tells Yahoo. “I wanted to build my own home the way I wanted it, using real materials that are healthy, no chemicals added, [having] low-VOC paint and making sure the ventilation was done properly, the air conditioning was done properly. Making sure the water is clean and purified properly.”

Laura Barrera, a real estate agent in Miami, says that clients in her area are asking for wellness properties like the one Carmadelle is building — so much so that her entire business is about selling residences with a focus on health.

“It’s about applying wellness throughout the process,” Barrera explains. “Looking at how construction is going and making sure all the materials are toxic-free.” Research about the state of wellness real estate suggests that this health-first approach to home building and buying is gaining momentum. The question is, why — and is it possible to achieve without spending a fortune?

What is wellness real estate?

The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) has tracked the industry since 2018, defining it as “environments proactively designed, built and operated to support the holistic health of occupants, visitors and the community.” This includes the development of “better for you” commercial buildings following Fitwel and Well certifications but has become even more focused on residential properties. GWI senior researcher Ophelia Yeung tells Yahoo that it’s about designing homes “with human health and well-being in mind,” something that’s become a priority for home buyers of late.

While many wellness homes feature expansive pools, saunas and Equinox-inspired gyms, Yeung notes that the most recent research also highlights the positive impact of less visible elements — natural light, quiet spaces, effective ventilation — on physical, mental and emotional health.

Research shows that interest in holistic wellness has been growing over a number of years, but the trend of incorporating it within the home accelerated during the pandemic. “People suddenly realized that the indoor environment can affect their physical health and mental health,” says Yeung. Poor air circulation heightened illness risk, while isolation affected emotional well-being. “It's like everybody just woke up and decided, we want natural light, we want views of nature, we want to see green things.”

The connection between environment and health is also supported by research, from the harms of noise pollution and unhealthy nearby food options to the benefits of walkable neighborhoods. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported in 2016 that nearly 24% of global deaths were linked to environmental factors, including air pollution, chemical exposure and radiation. But slow-moving infrastructure changes have led more people to tackle these issues themselves, right on their doorstep. For some, that means making changes to their home, building a wellness-oriented home from scratch or moving into a wellness community with like-minded neighbors. Outside of Atlanta, for example, is Serenbe, a wellness community built across acres of the countryside with a focus on growing fresh food for residents and nurturing togetherness.

What counts as healthy?

“It's important that people are thinking, Oh, for my next home. I want to make sure it's good for my health,” says Yeung, “but for most of us, it’s not really clear what that means.”

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to developing wellness real estate; needs vary by location, climate and budget. For some so-called wellness communities, that may mean advanced air and water filtration or circadian lighting; for others, low-VOC paints and mold-resistant building materials. According to Elena Sarkissian, a real estate broker at Douglas Elliman, New Yorkers are willing to pay a premium for things as simple as more green space, and luxury buildings are happy to tout their wellness-inspired offerings.

But that can also lead to “well-washing,” the GWI points out. “There is no shortage of building projects around the world that add a few spa-like luxury amenities and market themselves as wellness. … Simply adding a fitness area and a swimming pool for physical exercise is not enough,” the 2025 “Build Well to Live Well” report reads. “Effective wellness real estate projects will incorporate design features, amenities, policies and programming that address many or all of the dimensions of wellness (physical, mental/spiritual, social, civic/community, environmental and economic/financial), recognizing that each project may have different emphases and approaches to serve its target population.”

Ultimately, Yeung says, “it's very hard to tell people that there’s a whole checklist.” Even custom wellness homes differ widely in approach, though professionals like Carmadelle offer guidelines for healthier living spaces.

Home sweet wellness home?

The sky is the limit when it comes to the cost and effort that can go into creating a wellness home. For Carmadelle, that included becoming certified in building biology and earning a contractor’s license to create her own healthy living space, complete with hardwired electronics to reduce radio frequency exposure and the installation of a $900 reverse osmosis water filter. Those without limitless budgets, however, have options to make choices that are less costly and more thoughtful.

“Lighting is so important,” she says, explaining how brightness and color temperature can shift a room’s atmosphere. Larger windows or outdoor porches that bring in natural light can have a major impact.

Pro-social design, like outdoor seating that encourages neighbor interaction, is something that Yeung values, as well as designating personal spaces inside the home. “Like a quiet space, your own little office or an exercise corner if you want to stream a yoga class from home. … It's actually very important for people's wellness routine, whether it's mental or physical,” she says.

For Booras, that’s the cold plunge in her garage where she spends mornings relaxing, recovering and listening to music. It’s become such a sanctuary for her that she’s reluctant to leave for an upcoming vacation. “I'm a little bit bummed that I'll be away from my home for a while and not have access to [the space],” she says.