What Do Shifting Remote-Work Dynamics Mean for the Housing Market?
With the number of remote workers dropping, experts wonder what will happen to areas that saw dramatic population changes during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic
Dec. 2, 2024
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With less people working remotely, some housing market experts are wondering what will happen to pandemic-era boomtowns.
Remote work remains far more popular than it was in 2019, but recent data show that the number of remote workers has dropped during the last several years. According to the ResiClub blog, the percentage of U.S. workers who are fully remote fell to 13.8% in 2023, compared with 15.2% in 2022 and 17.9% in 2021. Overall, the number of remote workers has fallen in 39 of the 40 largest housing markets over the past two years. The housing market was drastically affected by the shift to remote work at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and housing market experts now wonder whether there will be similarly noticeable changes in housing markets as the number of remote workers declines in the near future.
A sharper than expected WFH pullback could leave some housing markets vulnerable. Let's say a recession occurs, and even more employers have the economic leverage to pull workers back into the office. In that scenario, the markets that have benefited the most from "WFH arbitrage" could be the most vulnerable to a housing correction. To a degree, we've already seen that in Zoomtowns like Austin and Boise.Read more
