This year and the last year, consumers noticed a dramatic surge in home sales and the price hike. Homes sales have been fueled by the pandemic. Actually, it quite makes sense that why the real estate market is booming. Some areas of the country have been back to more normal than other areas. Still, people have a lot more restrictions such as lockdowns, indoor capacity, travel concerns, and being remotely working at home. All these environments created the perfect storm for surging home sales. People used to live in a tiny apartment in big cities and didn’t mind it that tiny space. Most time, people used it for sleeping, and the next day you go to work and spend the evening with friends at the bar or dining. We enjoyed spending most of our time outdoors gathering with people. After all your freedom and routine daily life is forced being staying inside your house, people all started looking for a comfortable place with more space, backyard, and amenities you could enjoy things at home.
More space, rooms and home office
While some workers have been back on-site, but still the large population is working remotely at home. Zoom meetings have become so normal. People want a home with dedicated office space for their meetings. You don’t want to show cluttered stuff in your background, kitchen, and dining room either. That was the top desire why people wanted to buy a home according to the Zillow survey.
Amenities for home
The pool was the top keyword search according to Zillow. The more people are forced to stay inside, the desire for searching for homes that are equipped with pools, large backyards, and other amenities like spas and gym space is drastically increased.
Moving out of big cities
Remote working has created the freedom for many workers that they don’t have to commute and stay inside metropolitan areas. While the coronavirus is spreading, people wanted to move out of crowded big cities. People are able to buy homes that are less expensive, more spacious in small cities with less population. As long as the internet connection is available, you can work from anywhere. Unfortunately, there are jobs that have to be in the field. Most office-related jobs can be accommodated to doing remotely.
Smart Technology
Being mindful of germs and viruses, people are more looking for touchless products such as bathroom faucets, kitchen faucets, appliances, doors, and more.
New Construction
According to Zillow survey 2020, more than a quarter of buyers bought a new-construction home. 37% of surveyors said that they preferred a new-construction home because everything in the home was new and never used. I also think that the pandemic also aided the surge of new-construction home sales.
This trend might stay for a while. We see more flexible work opportunities. Companies are pursuing more dynamic workplace strategies offering work-from-home. As long as this trend is going on, we will see more people migrating to the suburbs. Some people feel this “bubble” like the 2008 home crisis. Some buyers are asking that when it is going to crash. The market is fundamentally different from 2008. Since then, lenders have tightened underwriting requirements, so we don’t have a subprime mortgage crisis like 2008. We expect home prices to keep rising while the inventory remains low.
