Work From Home Spurs Residential Buying in Outer Suburbs

DUBLIN, CA—In its recent 2020 Economic Outlook, UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate forecasts that work from home trends resulting from COVID-19 will reshape the US housing market. These changes will likely be the norm well after shelter orders are lifted.

“Suburban housing will once again become a choice solution for both Millennials and empty nesters who very recently returned to an urban environment,” says David Shulman, Ziman Center senior economist. “It also means that many workers won’t have to live close to their workplace.”

This trend is exhibited in many Bay Area suburbs as developers and homebuilders are experiencing increased sales from buyers planning to work from home. In many cases, these are employees of tech and other creative industries who are no longer required to live near company offices. Many are choosing larger or otherwise more suitable homes as a result of this option.

Brookfield Residential, which is building homes in seven communities in Northern California, reports a 40% increase in year-over-year sales for the past 90 days. The enticements for work from home buyers are many, and a new home may be less expensive and more roomy than comparative residences in San Francisco, says Brookfield Residential president Josh Roden.

“These homes offer dedicated, comfortable spaces for people to work, study and entertain, and the robust connectivity needed to make these activities go smoothly,” Roden tells GlobeSt.com.

Among these new buyers are Priyanka and Abhishek Patil, who currently rent in San Jose but recently purchased a home at the Hyde Park neighborhood at Boulevard in Dublin, CA. Boulevard is the 1750-home master plan developed by Brookfield Residential and Lennar.

The Patils closed escrow in July and plan to move in December. Priyanka works in product marketing for a technology company in the Bay Area and her husband, Abnishek, is a robotics engineer for a construction and power tools company.

“We’re hearing now that we’ll be working from home indefinitely and we will set up a home office,” said Priyanka. “The need to work from home also inspired us to search for a larger home–not just with a home office, but also a kitchen island and much more room in general.”

She said the Dublin location was also more convenient than San Jose, as her husband works in the northern Bay Area, and Dublin is approximately midway between the two offices should they return to commuting.

Brookfield Residential’s master-planned communities are also responding to the trend by creating amenities for working from outside of the home. For example, Boulevard in Dublin includes a network of 15 unique neighborhood parks that will soon be WiFi-enabled. One such park, The Office, is an approximately 5,000-square-foot outdoor work area. It includes built-in electricity, individual work desks, an office meeting table and a tech station with high-top bar table. The Office even includes a tall wall suitable for projecting presentations. It can accommodate up to 30 people at a time.

The community also offers The Rec Center, a social hub which includes indoor coworking space, a conference room, indoor and outdoor lounges, and other spaces where residents can work. (While The Rec Center remains closed due to the COVID for the time being, it will be available to work from home residents when California’s shutdowns are relaxed.) All the homes at Boulevard have direct high-speed fiber connectivity provided by Comcast and AT&T.

Looking ahead, Roden says Brookfield Residential may modify floorplans and interior amenities as well.

“We are looking at all of our plans to identify areas to work from home,” he tells GlobeSt.com. “These can be designated tech areas or optional areas in master bedrooms, lofts or even the laundry room–anywhere a homeowner can plug in a laptop and work. We are also developing ways to create more flexibility in our homes: adding Murphy beds, for example, that can help transition bedrooms into offices.”