Coming out of the Covid-19 induced lock-up and having worked from home for a couple of months, where would you want to buy, build or rent your next home? And what would be important to have in that next home?

That’s the million dollar question at the moment, for residential property developers, including us. Mirvac recently did a surve and found that more than a third would reconsider where they lived, if they could continue to work from home. Almost a quarter said they would relocate further away, while only one in seven said they would move closer to their workplace.

Mirvac head of residential development Stuart Penklis said, “We are currently rethinking where we choose to develop future communities.” People said they don’t want to travel more than 5km to access conveniences and they would consider relocating to relaxed areas such as near the beach or countryside. The increased demand for private home offices for uninterrupted, focused work as well as bigger and flexible rooms for different uses also indicates that the type of properties and the way those properties are designed is bound to change.

Mr Bainey said post-pandemic homes, especially apartments, would come with more storage space. He thinks a lot of developers aren’t designing enough storage space, but if people continue to work from home, they’re going to need it.

I’m excited that Covid-19 has granted developers permission to reimagine the very concept of home.