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What Happens After You Get a House in Animal Crossing: New Horizons?

A house in Animal Crossing: New Horizons starts a new stage: expand rooms with Bells, decorate, pursue island projects, or try optional design content.
WorldAnimal Crossing: New Horizons? Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Getting a house in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the start of a new progression loop, not the end of the game. You gain home storage and can take out further Bells loans to expand your rooms, while decorating, earning Nook Miles, gardening, and developing your island remain available at your own pace.

What changes when you move from a tent to a house?

Your tent is replaced by a house, giving you indoor space and storage for items. Nookipedia lists the first house loan as 98,000 Bells and its storage as 80 slots; it lists the preceding tent payment as 5,000 Nook Miles. These figures are for New Horizons, not every game in the Animal Crossing series. See Nookipedia’s home loan reference.

Once the house loan is paid off, you can ask Tom Nook about another expansion. Nintendo describes the option as a way to add rooms and customize the home’s styles and colors. The upgrades are optional: they give you more space and decorating possibilities, but they are not presented as a requirement for continuing everyday island activities. Nintendo’s Play Nintendo guide covers home upgrades alongside other island goals.

How do the house expansions work?

Each paid-off loan makes the next listed home expansion available. The figures below are the Bells loan amounts in Nookipedia’s progression table; Nintendo confirms the general upgrade pattern but does not publish this full list.

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#1 Best Overall
Animal Crossings New Horizons - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]
  • Build your community from scratch on a deserted island brimming with possibility; Create your personal getaway and customize your character, home, decorations, and even the landscape itself
  • Collect materials to construct everything from furniture to tools. Then, use what you create to give your island a personal touch
  • Watch as the time of day and seasons match real life—even your hemisphere. Each day holds potential for surprises and discoveries
  • Get to know the island residents, garden, fish, decorate, hunt for fossils, and more.
  • Show off your paradise – play on the same system with a total of 4 people, or play together online or over local wireless for fun with up to 8 players
Home stage Loan
First house 98,000 Bells
Main room expansion 198,000 Bells
Back room 348,000 Bells
Left room 548,000 Bells
Right room 758,000 Bells
Second floor 1,248,000 Bells
Basement 2,498,000 Bells

These are sequential home loans, not a fee you must pay all at once. Nookipedia’s figures are a specialist community reference; consult its home loan page for the detailed progression. Renovation choices and when they become available can depend on your game progress.

What can you do while deciding whether to expand?

The house is one project among several. You can pursue whichever activities appeal to you without treating full home expansion as the only path forward.

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Animal Crossing: New Horizons - For Nintendo Switch (AUS VERSION)
  • Share Your Paradise - Show off your island utopia to family and friends - or pack your bags and visit theirs.
  • Get Building - Experience a robust new crafting system - collect materials to construct everything from furniture to tools!
  • Create Your Perfect Getaway - Craft everything from tools to creature comforts as you create and customize your island community.
  • Explore Your Island - Collect bugs, decorate your paradise throughout the day, or enjoy sunset on the beach while fishing in the ocean.
  • Play Together - Up to eight players can reside on an island; four residents of the same island can play together simultaneously on a single system.
  • Decorate and collect feedback: Furnish your rooms and try coordinating colors, furniture styles, and decorations. The Happy Home Academy evaluates your interior weekly, making home design a recurring side goal rather than a prerequisite for island progress.
  • Earn and spend Nook Miles: Complete challenges to earn Miles, then redeem them for features, recipes, items, or mystery-tour tickets.
  • Grow your island: Garden, work toward improving your island rating, and use the Island Designer app for paths and terrain projects.

Nintendo outlines these activities in its guide to leveling up your island.

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What new options are available in the 2026 update?

Nintendo announced that New Horizons Version 3.0.0 became available on January 15, 2026. The free update adds a resort hotel on the pier, where you help decorate guest rooms, and raises home storage capacity to up to 9,000 items. That 9,000-item figure is the updated maximum announced by Nintendo of America; the earlier 5,000-item maximum from Version 2.0.0 is no longer current. Details are in Nintendo’s October 30, 2025 announcement.

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Rank #3
Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]
  • Take in-game photos of your designs and add them to your portfolio. Show them to other characters and you may get more requests to create vacation homes. Share the photos with other players using the in-game Showroom in the Happy Home Network app and they can tour your personally-designed resort islands or go tour theirs for some relaxation and inspiration.
  • Purchase the Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise DLC from Nintendo eShop, or download and play it as part of an active Nintendo Switch Online plus Expansion Pack membership at no extra cost.

Is Happy Home Paradise required?

No. Happy Home Paradise is optional DLC focused on designing vacation homes, facilities, and gardens, with additional design techniques. It is separate from expanding your own main-island house.

To access it, Nintendo says you need the base game, a completed Resident Services building, Tom Nook’s DIY workshop, and a player house upgraded from a tent. Once those conditions are met, the “go to work” option appears at least one day later. Nintendo offers access through a separate purchase or Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack; subscription access lasts only while the membership is active, while separately purchased DLC can be played indefinitely. See Nintendo Support’s Happy Home Paradise access guide.

Quick Recap

Bestseller No. 1
Animal Crossings New Horizons - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]
Animal Crossings New Horizons - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]
Get to know the island residents, garden, fish, decorate, hunt for fossils, and more.
$59.88

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