Growing Number of Remote Workers Is Changing the Housing Market

With more and more employees able to work at home, the kind of homes they are looking for, and in what locations, is changing, according to an article in the New York Times.

The need for dedicated office space within the home, availability of community spaces where they can work occasionally and not feel isolated, and the desire to live outside of large urban areas, is leading workers to reconsider their housing options.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of last year about 24 percent of employed persons worked at least part of the time at home; among those with advanced degrees, it was 42 percent. In a survey last year of 23,000 new home shoppers, John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a firm with offices across the country, found that roughly 30 percent worked at home between one and four days a week; 13 percent worked at home full time.

Nevertheless, as the numbers have grown, some in the real estate industry are wondering about the long-term impact, said Zach Aarons, a co-founder of MetaProp, a New York City venture capital firm focused on real estate technology. Some investors in New York real estate see a potential threat if remote workers start to exit the city for less expensive locations, he said. The looming question is: “Do people live in the city because they like the community, or just because it’s convenient to their job?”

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