A new survey from Zillow suggests the coronavirus pandemic could spur many workers to move to secondary cities as a result of corporate America’s embrace of remote work.
Zillow’s survey was conducted by The Harris Poll and found 75 percent of Americans working from home because of COVID-19 would prefer to continue that at least half the time, if given the option, after the pandemic subsides.
Additionally, 66 percent of survey respondents would be at least somewhat likely to consider moving if they had the flexibility to work from home as often as they want. Twenty-four percent of respondents said they’ve thought about moving as a result of spending more time at home due to social distancing recommendations.
“Moving away from the central core has traditionally offered affordability at the cost of your time and gas money,” Zillow Senior Principal Economist Skylar Olsen said in a release. “Relaxing those costs by working remotely could mean more households choose those larger homes farther out, easing price pressure on urban and inner suburban areas.
“However, that means they’d also be moving farther from a wider variety of restaurants, shops, yoga studios and art galleries,” Olsen said. “Given the value many place on access to such amenities, we’re not talking about the rise of the rural homesteader on a large scale. Future growth under broader remote work would still favor suburban communities or secondary cities that offer those amenities along with more spacious homes and larger lots.”
A Zillow analysis found that 46 percent of current households have a spare bedroom that could be used as an office. But that percentage drops off by more than 10 percent in metros such as Los Angeles; New York; San Jose, Calif.; San Francisco; and San Diego, where far fewer homes have spare rooms.
“We are seeing more buyers looking to leave the city,” said Bic DeCaro, a member of Zillow’s Agent Advisory Board serving Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia. “Buyers, who just a few months ago were looking for walkability, are now looking for extra land to go along with more square footage.”