According to Rightmove’s property trends, for example, the most in-demand property type in London in autumn 2019 was a studio flat, followed by a two-bedroom house. Just 12 months later, during the 2020 pandemic, that shifted to a larger house, with studio flats falling seven places in their housing index. Meanwhile, Zoopla has found that demand in three-bedroom houses has risen by seven percent year-on-year, outstripping the demand for flats.
These shifts in the housing market have been fuelled by people’s desire to have an extra room to work from home in. And that’s likely to continue in 2021 and beyond, with many UK companies, such as RBS, set to have up to 49,000 staff still working from home full-time next year.
As a result, pandemic thinking is clearly continuing, leading many homeowners to favour fewer open spaces – where you can be interrupted while on Zoom calls – and instead adaptable living areas or additional rooms that can be used for a home office; where you can shut work away for the night; alternatively as an exercise area, or somewhere to home-school children.
This viewpoint will go on to explore:
- How home design is catching up to our living demands.
- The growing demand for gardens.
- The need for larger space standards.
