Property Consultants Bidwells undertook a survey of households in the Cambridge area during the summer months to better understand how residents view their homes, how they perceive their homes performed during the lockdown period and aspects they would change with the benefit of hindsight.
Overall, respondents valued outdoor space and broadband speed the most during the most challenging of lockdown periods.
The most valued aspects of home during lockdown
Private outdoor space | 57% |
High speed broadband | 47% |
Space outside bedroom for working | 33% |
Views of green space from window | 31% |
Dedicated home office | 24% |
Volume of fridge/freezer and kitchen cupboard space | 16% |
Noise insulation | 14% |
Energy efficiency (Lower energy costs) | 12% |
Home security features
| 10% |
Safety of communal areas (apartments) | 6%
|
With a limit of one hour of outdoor exercise each day, a private garden, terrace or balcony took on great importance. However, for both work and home schooling, broadband access was also considered important, taking on a similar significance to other household utilities.
The most valued aspects of home during lockdown for homeworkers
High speed broadband | 54% |
Space outside bedroom for working | 44% |
Private outdoor space | 42% |
Views of green space from window | 35% |
Dedicated home office | 23% |
Volume of fridge/freezer and kitchen cupboard space | 15% |
Noise insulation | 13% |
Energy efficiency (Lower energy costs) | 12% |
Safety of communal areas (apartments) | 12% |
Home security features | 6%
|
For those working from home, broadband speed was the most highly rated aspect of the home, followed by a separate workspace.
Nationwide has reported annual house price growth at its highest level since January 2015, while mortgage approvals for house purchases rose again in September to the highest level since 2007. Performance is not consistent across the market, however.
Pent-up demand and the temporary increase in the Stamp Duty threshold have of course spurred activity. However, the patterns of demand also suggest shifts in preferences in the shadow of the new world in which we live. A recent survey by Nationwide (September) found 10% of those surveyed were in the process of moving as a result of the pandemic and a further 18% were considering a move for the same reason.
Following the shock of the build-up to lockdown in March, many households settled, to varying degrees, into a routine of online meetings, home schooling and 60 minute walks. During this period, homes doubled up as workplaces and classrooms and, for those shielding, become the extent of their world. The home took on a magnified role in our lives and the survey finds some lived up to expectations better than others.
In general, the factors that spurred people to choose their homes were not the characteristics that were now valued. Proximity to work and access to transport were key drivers of choosing a property, but with the lockdown experience under their belt, the survey found households placed private outdoor space and high-speed broadband at the top of their list of most valued characteristics.
The desire for private gardens, space to work and high-speed broadband are articulated firmly in the results. Forty-two per cent of respondents noted the key factor they would change about their home is access to private outdoor space with a noted preference for gardens.
Similar studies over recent months have also noted the desire to move further afield, given increased flexibility to work at home. This will inevitably be seen in and around the Cambridge area, although potentially will have a lesser effect due to the unique nature of the local economy; science, medicine and engineering is generally trickier to undertake at home, whether you have the benefit of an office or not.
Commenting on the research, Sue Foxley, Research Director at Bidwells said, “The COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent lockdown and the current halfway house between our old and new lives is clearly a unique circumstance for which none of us planned when we bought or rented our homes.
“While there is, of course, the hopeful expectation that our current lives will return to some form of normal over the coming year or two, it is clear, for many of us, this will take a different form. Significantly higher levels of home working certainly appear likely.”
Image by Quinn Kampschroer from Pixabay