How will the COVID-19 crisis effect home-buyer preferences in Australia?

Chatting with friends and colleagues recently about how we're all adapting to working-from-home (or as it sometime feels: homing-from-work), I got to thinking: are our current homes serving us well with the new demands we're placing on them? And will there be a lasting impact on our home-buying preferences in the longer-term?

It will indeed be interesting to see to what extent the current crisis shapes home design trends in the future. Depending on the duration of this period of social-distancing, there are a number of outcomes we could see in Australia, from smarter home office solutions, greater segregation of spaces (or simply more of them) and -I hope- a renewed focus on healthy, comfortable and resource efficient homes.

Call me naive, but I don’t foresee a huge shift in the average Australian home towards ‘survival bunkers’ or separate ‘decontamination rooms’ just yet, though perhaps another pandemic or two will change this.

I do however think a renewed focus on the home-as-office and home-as-sanctuary will influence what home features people prioritise in the future.

"Spatial organisation will change, with the place to work at home no longer a desk with a parody of an office chair and a lamp, slotted somewhere in the corner of the living room or under the stairs."

- Sergey Makhno

Even among those who do largely return to working at a centralised office, many will become more flexible in where and when they work, choosing to still maintain an office space at home. As our means of working and studying remotely becomes more mobile via tablets, laptops and smart watches, there remains a need for appropriate physical spaces to work effectively. The recent project home space-filler known as ‘the study nook’ might become a minimum-standard feature in compact homes, but my guess is that those who can afford to will opt for a full separate study to escape the kids/wife/dog. As architect Sergey Makhno put it “Spatial organisation will change, with the place to work at home no longer a desk with a parody of an office chair and a lamp, slotted somewhere in the corner of the living room or under the stairs.”

With more family members forced to #stayhome and work/study/eat/sleep/recreate/procreate under the same roof, we are finding the quantity and quality of spaces in the home to be more critical than ever. All of a sudden, a second living area or ‘adults wing’ is seeming more like ‘essential’ household feature and less like an optional extravagance. But will this sentiment prevail once social-distancing measures are dropped and the kids are free to use the house as a hotel again? 

I’m not sure whether it is people’s inner ‘Doomsday Prepper’ coming to the fore, or simply an abundance of free-time quarantined in our own homes, but the humble veggie patch is making a comeback. This reflects a broader rush to accommodate previously outsourced services and activities at-home, as anyone who has tried to buy exercise equipment or a home-brew kit lately can attest to. It will be interesting to see how many of us decide we actually prefer to partake in these activities from the comfort of our homes -complete with unmade hair and our 90s music playlists- once the quarantine is lifted. But is our housing robust enough to accommodate these activities in the long-term?

There does appear to be a potential conflict between a possible increased desire for more rooms, nicer spaces and bigger backyards, and the potential financial difficulties that will face many households coming out of this crisis. Good design however has the potential to assist in delivering smarter -not necessarily larger- homes that more effectively meet our needs. Better aligning our current housing stock with the needs of diverse households will play a role too.

For many of us, spending extended time at home has made us more aware of what aspects of our home make it a pleasure (or not) to live in. People are noticing the joy of sunlight and natural ventilation, or have a renewed appreciation for the simple pleasure of a well-designed outdoor area. 

Some acquaintances have been longing for the climate-controlled environment of our former offices. Many however are only now realising how resource intensive it is to try and maintain these perfect 22 degree temperatures in our poorly designed housing stock. Could this be the catalyst we need to consider the comfort and cost advantages of good, passive solar designed homes and offices? I hope so.

It goes without saying that we will emerge from this COVID-19 crisis a changed world on many levels. Will housing design be one of them? What do you think? And how has your home been handling its new role as office/school/restaurant/pub and park? 

NB: I don’t mean to ignore the tragic loss of life and livelihood currently being experience around the world right now; but simply hope to offer a ‘mental-break’ to consider some of the lighter aspects of this current crisis - if you enjoyed these musings why not spread some positive news and like or share this article.