The pandemic has changed our taste in houses forever. This is according to an analysis by CENTURY 21 Italia, the Italian branch of the US real estate giant that recently launched operations in Italy. So let's find out what the new housing needs are.
"Italians' desire for homes with outdoor spaces has not been a passing passion," comments Marco Tilesi, CEO of the CENTURY 21 branch in Italy. With the onset of the pandemic, we saw an increase in consumer interest in outdoor spaces," continues Tilesi. "Our goal was to understand whether this attention was a momentary reaction, dictated by lockdown restrictions, or a permanent trend.
So what did the analysis reveal? "What is immediately apparent is not only the cause-and-effect connection between pandemic and demand for a larger home, but above all the fact that this demand is also consolidated in the post-pandemic period". So the trend doesn't seem to be going away.
The numbers in the report
From the CENTURY 21 analysis, the desire for larger homes is quite clear: compared to the three-year period 2017-2019, 2020 recorded a 43% increase in interest, a trend that is confirmed with minimal fluctuation even in 2021 (+36%). It is interesting to note what happens with respect to the choice of type of dwelling: in the year that covid spread across the globe, the search for villas dropped dramatically, reaching -13%, but the following year shows an immediate return to pre-pandemic levels.
What does this sudden lack of consumer interest in detached houses mean? In our opinion," explains the CEO, "the reduced social interaction and the impossibility of socialising in the traditional way during the periods of austerity linked to the anti-virus measures (lockdowns, curfews) have pushed people towards urban centres where the necessary daily activities are made easier by proximity, for example shopping".
The search for villas, however, according to CENTURY 2021, is a trend that is quickly making a comeback in the post-Covid era, when detached houses are once again an object of desire for homebuyers.
The passion for this type of housing is also confirmed by the consumer's attention to gardens: in 2020, in fact, the percentage of those looking for a house with outdoor green space rose by 28% compared to the three-year reference period 2017-2019 (and in 2021 it will continue growing to reach 35%).
"The increase in the demand for gardens that rises against the trend in searches for villas is, in fact, a clue" continues Tilesi, "that confirms how during 2020, and therefore in the hardest period of the covid, the consumer's search is mainly oriented towards houses with open spaces but in urban centres".
A trend that is bound to last
On the whole, therefore, the new housing needs created during the pandemic have stabilised in the post-Covid era as well, and the house of desire for the new normal must not only be larger "to allow the coexistence of all the members of the family engaged in different activities, from smart working, to digital teaching, to domestic sports to be done online (just think of the boom in apps and digital personal trainers)", say CENTURY 21, but must also have outdoor spaces "that allow" emphasises Tilesi "safe socializing".
Not just gardens, in fact. Demand for balconies and terraces is also continuing to rise, with an average increase of more than 50% in the last two years and more than 30% in the last year alone. This is not just an Italian trend. The pandemic has changed our perception of domestic space on a global scale.
This transformation is the focus of the documentary Home Rediscovered that CENTURY 21 USA has produced with National Geographic. An intimate and universal journey into the way in which this global emergency has redesigned our daily lives, starting with how we understand the concept of "home".