Impact of WFH trends on housing market

[Psycho Sonny]

Don’t forget about 10-12% of people will be off work due to holiday, sickness etc. that changes the sums somewhat.

Depending on the business others may be out of the office due to meetings, training etc., pre-lock down of course.

correct. the figure is 20%. people taking annual leave. working at other offices. on business trips, sick leave, off site training, etc, etc.

it all added up to 20% of the workforce being off any given day on average.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

It’s a bit more nuanced than a flat 20% though and it is really dependent on the employer. Even annual leave varies to a degree.

Where I used to work it would be vary rare for people to be off site. Where I am now it’s very common, that changes the game completely. Then factor in those who can and are working from home.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

It’s a bit more nuanced than a flat 20% though and it is really dependent on the employer. Even annual leave varies to a degree.

Where I used to work it would be vary rare for people to be off site. Where I am now it’s very common, that changes the game completely. Then factor in those who can and are working from home.

Yeah I was meaning my office has a 8 desk to 10 people policy. As they know roughly 20% at any given time wo t be in the office. My office was so overpacked even with that policy we only had 6-7 desks to 10 and every person was taking a working from home day on a weekly basis as departmental policy as standard. Although you could take another day or two or three if need be for example my mate would work from home 4 times a week even before corona.

The issue is we have now signed a new lease on the smaller place and are having another office built from scratch.


The new office isn't being used at all and the new build I can see us not needing it as we can all work from home as we are doing currently.

Offices are a big expense. They can offset wastage of lazy people by not paying rents, utility costs, etc.

 

[Super-Spy]

Imagine all those business that would have recently signed 5 to 10 year leases for expensive, newly refurbished offices only to find they may not need them anymore.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Imagine all those business that would have recently signed 5 to 10 year leases for expensive, newly refurbished offices only to find they may not need them anymore.

Basically what I said above.

We have signed a 5 year deal on our new office and a 25 year deal on the new build that isn't ready yet.

 

[chorse]

Rents will likely decrease on commercial property - might balance it out a bit.

Certainly an uptick in interest in my circle on property in the sticks. No action yet though.

 

[Shoza]

I think people will value space, internet abs gardens more than before. I am seeing a trend of people no longer interested in London new build flats. The market is flooded with them and I have seen some drop £50-100k in price in the last 12 months.

Newbuild houses are flying off the shelves at the moment. A client of mine recently carried out a survey of 2000 people in their marketing list with a 68% return rate and the following for most needed in a new house:

1. home office space
2. Good internet connection
3. Garden

I work in the housing sector for reference.

 

[DB_SamX]

I think people will value space, internet abs gardens more than before. I am seeing a trend of people no longer interested in London new build flats. The market is flooded with them and I have seen some drop £50-100k in price in the last 12 months.

Newbuild houses are flying off the shelves at the moment. A client of mine recently carried out a survey of 2000 people in their marketing list with a 68% return rate and the following for most needed in a new house:

1. home office space
2. Good internet connection
3. Garden

I work in the housing sector for reference.

S

Spot on for me!

 

[shiver]

I think people will value space, internet abs gardens more than before. I am seeing a trend of people no longer interested in London new build flats. The market is flooded with them and I have seen some drop £50-100k in price in the last 12 months.

Newbuild houses are flying off the shelves at the moment. A client of mine recently carried out a survey of 2000 people in their marketing list with a 68% return rate and the following for most needed in a new house:

1. home office space
2. Good internet connection
3. Garden

I work in the housing sector for reference.

I currently own a 2 bed flat in Zone 2 East London and this is me for sure. It was for about 2 years before the pandemic too.

I'm looking out towards Hertfordshire area but the idea of working from home more makes me less tied to "close to commute hub" towns too.

 

[PurplePhoenix]

I think people will value space, internet abs gardens more than before. I am seeing a trend of people no longer interested in London new build flats. The market is flooded with them and I have seen some drop £50-100k in price in the last 12 months.

Newbuild houses are flying off the shelves at the moment. A client of mine recently carried out a survey of 2000 people in their marketing list with a 68% return rate and the following for most needed in a new house:

1. home office space
2. Good internet connection
3. Garden

I work in the housing sector for reference.

Out of interest , where was parking or parking for 2+ cars on that list ?

 

[Gav_r26]

We moved and renovated about 2 years ago which involved extending and included a good sized study, mainly as a man-cave for my turbo trainer etc but its been a godsend for the wife having to work at home. That and we are lucky to have a quarter acre garden, half the reason we got the house, and 350mb broadband. The garden is a lot of work but has made such a difference this year!

Lists like the above make me happy though! That and we've had a big retail park built buy us that's also boosted house prices in the area.

 

[Shoza]

Out of interest , where was parking or parking for 2+ cars on that list ?

Wasn't in the top 5 list I saw which was In full:

1. Home office space
2. Internet connection
3. Garden space
4. Energy efficient home
5. Detached or semi detached house type

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Isn't that pretty much the list before Covid though?

Pretty much everyone wants a large detached house with big open spaces, spare rooms (e.g. office) and decent internet. Nothing new there...

 

[Psycho Sonny]

home office space has overtook parking most likely as nobody needs cars anymore

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I notice on the property listings there are a lot of houses that now have a "home office" instead of a "box room" (although they are still cheekily including it in the bedroom count).

 

[Super-Spy]

I notice on the property listings there are a lot of houses that now have a "home office" instead of a "box room" (although they are still cheekily including it in the bedroom count).

Have your cake and eat it...a bit misleading though.
Should be listed as Bedroom 4/home office as opposed to separately

 

[HangTime]

Seems like it is a thing - maybe I should've put my money where my mouth is and looked to invest in rural property:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53670199

 

[fastwunz]

Seems like it is a thing - maybe I should've put my money where my mouth is and looked to invest in rural property:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53670199

I live in Surrey but even here it’s too busy for me. The wife won’t allow it but, if I had my way, I would be as far away from The M25 as I could.

probably Wiltshire way - could get a banging house for our money and live in complete peace and quiet. Nice bit of garden backing onto fields, large drive, garage, quiet neighbourhood, country walks, pubs, wood burning fires in winter.......

sadly the wife wants to be in commuting distance of London.

 

[toshj]

Yeah I've been looking at the types of houses in Somerset, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire that we could have bought instead of moving to East Molesey.

Depressing stuff. I was quite keen on a move further out but my wife wanted to be closer to friends.

 

[mid_gen]

I live in Surrey but even here it’s too busy for me. The wife won’t allow it but, if I had my way, I would be as far away from The M25 as I could.

probably Wiltshire way - could get a banging house for our money and live in complete peace and quiet. Nice bit of garden backing onto fields, large drive, garage, quiet neighbourhood, country walks, pubs, wood burning fires in winter.......

sadly the wife wants to be in commuting distance of London.

Imo commuting into London is just the worst of all worlds. If you really want to work in London, then live in London. If you don't want to live in London, then work somewhere else.

I grew up in the commuter belt, did the odd stint of commuting in, but it's awful. I'm glad that when I did have full-time work in London I went and lived there as well, even if a Zone2 tube commute is still pretty soul-destroying

Living in rural midlands now, wouldn't go back down south to those lunatic prices again.