~5 MIN
Intro
Housing is one of the most creative and rewarding systems introduced in The War Within — but to unlock its full potential, you’ll need to raise your Housing Level. Higher levels mean larger rooms, more decor budget, expanded placement limits, and access to the biggest customizable spaces available during Early Access.
This guide explains how housing XP works, and outlines the fastest, cheapest, and most efficient ways to reach Housing Level 5 as early as possible.
What Housing Levels Unlock
Increasing your Housing Level provides three major benefits:
1. More Decor Budget
You can place more objects in your home.
2. More Room Placement Budget
You can expand your floor plan and build bigger layouts.
3. New Room Types
At Level 5 — the early-access cap — you unlock the Large Square Room, one of the most desirable building pieces.
Note: The “Daylight” and “Evening Circle” rooms appear in the leveling track, but they are not part of Early Access.
How Housing XP Works
When you hover over your level in the Housing Dashboard, you’ll see the XP sources:
- Complete Endeavors
- Obtain Uncommon (or higher) decor for the first time
Endeavors are unavailable during Early Access, so your leveling path revolves around first-time decor collection.
Method #1 — The Cheapest Way: Play the Game and Collect Guaranteed Decor
When you log in for the first time after housing is enabled, you may immediately gain XP — even jumping several levels. That’s because:
- Completed quests
- Old achievements
- Legacy rewards
…all instantly grant you their associated decor items in your house chest, and each counts as a first-time collection.
Do This First: Log into multiple characters
Different classes or factions may have unique quests or achievements tied to decor. Logging into alts ensures the system correctly tracks all rewards across your Warband.
Dungeons and Raids
Final bosses in many legacy dungeons and raids guarantee decor drops, each giving XP. These runs are fast, efficient, and free.
With just this method, many players can reach Housing Level 2–3 immediately without spending a single gold piece.
Method #2 — Smart Vendor Buying (The Efficient Resource-Based Route)
Once you’ve exhausted the free sources, the next step is buying uncommon decor from vendors.
The most powerful tool for this is the WoW Housing Database, which can be filtered to show:
- Vendor-purchasable decor
- Uncommon-quality items
- Items without achievement requirements
- Decor available for gold or basic resources
Each decor entry includes:
- Vendor name
- Exact map location
- Coordinates
- TomTom-compatible links for navigation
This makes it extremely easy to plan loops and pick up dozens of first-time items quickly.
Tip: Ignore decor requiring achievements
You either already have those (and therefore can’t gain XP) or you’d need to complete achievements first — which isn’t efficient for fast leveling.
Helpful Addons for Tracking Decor
Homebound
Shows quests and achievements that reward decor, making it simple to clean up missing XP sources. Works extremely well in early access.
Decor Vendor Addon
Highlights every decor vendor in the game and what they sell.
Downside: It does not track what you already collected.
All The Things (future)
Eventually will track first-time decor, but during Early Access it’s not fully functional on beta/PTR.
Using Homebound + the database site is the most efficient combo.
Method #3 — Auction House and Crafted Decor (The Expensive Route)
This is the least recommended method, but still useful to understand.
Crafted decor is expensive because:
- Every piece requires mid- to high-end materials
- Crafts use lumber from every expansion, newly farmable only from this patch onward
- Crafting itself is time-consuming
Because of this, buying crafted decor from the Auction House is costly and rarely worth the +10 XP you receive per first-time item.
When should you use this option?
- Only if you truly want the decor piece for your build
- Only if gold is not a concern
- Only if you already exhausted all cheap or free XP sources
Otherwise, stick to the prior methods.
Should You Even Rush Housing Levels?
Rushing to Level 5 is optional and depends on your building style:
If you build room-by-room:
You might not need the extra placement budget immediately.
If you design full layouts at once:
Then hitting Level 4 and 5 early unlocks:
- Large Octagonal Room (Level 4)
- Large Square Room (Level 5)
These are currently the biggest and most flexible interior shapes available, offering enormous creative potential.
The Fastest Overall Strategy to Level Housing (Step-by-Step)
Here is the condensed, optimal route:
Step 1 — Do quests and achievements you missed
Use Homebound to track decor rewards.
Step 2 — Log onto every alt
Ensure all decor-granting achievements from any class or faction are recognized.
Step 3 — Farm legacy dungeons/raids
Guaranteed decor drops = guaranteed XP.
Step 4 — Use the Housing Database filters
Buy all inexpensive uncommon vendor decor that does not require achievements.
Step 5 — As a last resort, purchase crafted decor
Only for items you actually plan to use — otherwise it’s not worth the gold.
Follow this path and you’ll reach Level 4–5 with minimal gold and minimal downtime.
Final Thoughts
Housing progression in The War Within is intentionally lightweight — leveling doesn’t increase player power, but it dramatically expands your creative freedom. If you’re someone who loves full-scale builds, large rooms, or ambitious layouts, pushing to Housing Level 4 and 5 early gives you the best tools to express your style.
If you want to focus on decorating without worrying about leveling alts or unlocking world content, clearing that path with TWW Leveling saves a huge amount of time so you can jump straight into housing. And since many housing vendors, crafting materials, and decor purchases rely on gold, topping up with WoW Gold EU or WoW Gold US makes collecting decor far easier.
Players planning to participate in endgame content while building their dream home should also consider gearing efficiently early on. The Mythic+ Bundle and Manaforge Omega Normal runs offer fast, reliable gearing so you can progress your character and still enjoy building without falling behind in PvE.
Whether you level housing slowly as you collect decor or rush straight to Level 5, the beauty of the system is that it grows with you — and you can shape it entirely around your playstyle.