To say that it has been a tumultuous year for property would be an understatement. As with other major sectors, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global housing market hard, causing major upheaval at almost every stage. 

When the widespread outbreak of the novel coronavirus prompted the first major UK lockdown, back in March, property (as was the case with many industries) ground to a halt. Property professionals and agents were forced to work from home, no longer able to go about their usual marketing, selling or management duties. Potential buyers pulled out of the market and halted their plans amid the uncertainty, and, after initially rushing to sell their property in the hopes of more economic security, landlords with tenanted properties were banned from selling them for the duration of Stay at Home calls. RightMove analysis depicted a 42% drop in demand for rentals in the first month after the UK national lockdown was announced, and similar reports from Zoopla found a 70% fall in sales during the same period. From here, many wondered how the housing market would be able to survive this period of immobility; seemingly already hit within the first few months of a pandemic that was set to grip the world for at least the next year. 

However, as social restrictions in Britain began to be eased at the end of Spring, pent up demand meant tenants and buyers flooding back onto the market. Both rental and sales experienced a surge in demand, with RightMove reporting a major increase in the number of homes ‘sold, subject to contract’ during the usually-quiet Summer months — up by 125% compared to the previous year. 

According to industry experts, this surge not only reflected the number of buyers who were looking to continue with plans they had halted as a result of the virus outbreak, but also increased numbers of people looking to upscale and improve their living spaces as a result of spending such an unprecedented amount of time in them during the Spring. 

Space

An increased demand for space in buyer trends has been noted in real estate analysis on both sides of the Atlantic, with several industry experts across the global housing sector citing it as a key deciding factor in client decision-making since the first set of country-wide lockdown restrictions at the beginning of 2020. 

According to analysis from Rose Quint, from the US National Association of Home Builders notes a steady trend for ‘upscaling’ in the US real estate market, with trends from 2020 showing an increased demand for building larger homes. According to Quint, this goes against the grain, in the sense that previous years have shown home builders and buyers focussed on decreasing the square footage of houses, due to many millennials looking to maximise their budgets when purchasing their first homes. Quint suggests that these new trends are indicative of the fact that people have spent an unprecedented amount of time at home in the last year, and are now looking for more space to study, work and even exercise at home. 

These same trends are evident in the behaviours of buyers in Britain, too. According to Mickey Alam Khan, the editor and founder of luxury magazine Luxury Daily, trends within the upper-middle to higher brackets of the property market in particular depict a demand for more space and added facilities, such as swimming pools, sports rooms, home gyms and larger gardens and grounds. 

Location 

As well as space, location has also become a major factor in understanding how buyer’s needs and preferences have changed since the pandemic, according to Alam Khan, who notes that many buyers are now moving away from cities in favour of the countryside. 

Before the outbreak of the virus, most business owners, directors and senior managers opted for primary residences that were close to their office or workplace — most commonly in major cities. However, social restrictions that left most of these people working from home throughout the last year have changed these preferences massively, meaning that those with the means have either opted to invest in countryside properties, or make second non-city homes their primary residence. This trend has, in the words of Alam Khan, “changed the face of luxury property”. Demand has shifted from previous years, in which buyers sought plush, central apartments and penthouses as their primary residence, to looking instead for large, countryside estates with big grounds and tennis courts. 

Continuing trends 

Even as the world morphs back into a ‘new normal’ after this pandemic, it is likely that many of these changes will be here to stay. 

Remote working is likely to remain a permanent fixture for many businesses around the world, even once vaccine roll outs make shielding and social distancing a thing of the past. Working from home has proven to allow more flexibility, and cut costs for many companies. As affluent businesses owners, partners and directors will likely continue to opt for property that gives them more room to work effectively, luxury property trends are likely to be shaped by this. 

Likewise, the pandemic itself has changed the way that many of us go about our daily lives and think about the world around us. Since Covid-19, general interest in luxury property has rocketed, with more and more people fantasising about escaping to kitted mountain retreats and private beach villas than ever before. 

No one is able to say exactly what the long-term impacts of the world’s 2020 shutdown will be, for any sector. However, it is clear that the coronavirus pandemic has already created seismic shifts within luxury property and real estate sectors around the world, and has already changed the face of the global housing market more than we could have anticipated. 

Luna Williams writes for Great House Design, luxury property developers and designers based in the UK and US.