| 
While it may be too soon to tell if the trend lasts, agents say buyers seem to be moving away from open-plan homes where families cooped up together by the pandemic can’t get away from each other.
Buyer tastes did not escape being influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and Realtors and brokers say many of those changes look set to continue to influence the market in 2021.
“What really surprised me is how quickly behavior changed,” said Jack Conway & Co. President & CEO Carol Bulman. “In December 2019, people wanted an open floorplan, they wanted to be close to the city, no one was concerned about having to use an elevator. But now those properties are sitting on the market longer.”
From condominiums in the urban core to single-family homes in the suburbs, many buyers were hunting for more space, whether that was indoor elbow room or a yard to run around in.
“People had been saying they wanted more manageable, more affordable homes. That changed because people say, ‘I’m going to be spending more time in my home,’” said Kurt Thompson, a broker associate with Keller Williams Realty / North Central in Leominster and the 2020 president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. “[Pre-pandemic], 1,000 to 1,200 square feet was a very common square footage for first-time buyers. I’m seeing that now push towards 1,400, 1,600 square feet. People say ‘I need a home I can expand [my family] in or a place where I work from home or just more space if I’m going to continue to be confined.’”
More Elbow Room
Inside the home, every agent or broker interviewed for this story said, much of that extra square footage has gone to an extra bedroom that can be used as an office or a “Zoom room” for children whose schools are teaching remotely or in a hybrid in-person/remote model.
Outside the home, that same desire has translated to single-family buyers putting a premium on yards and what can be done with them – “I know of pool companies that were booking out into 2021,” Waltham-based Lamacchia Realty Realtor Matt Czepiel said, a 180-degree reversal after years where pools almost carried a stigma among buyers for their maintenance costs – and condo buyers seeking out properties with some form of private outdoor space, however small.
“I think people just want more space than what they’ve had or what they’ve needed in prior years. They might trade off a little bit of quality for outdoor space,” Czepiel said. “I’ve had some clients who’ve said, ‘If [a condo] doesn’t have a deck I’m not looking at it,’ and they can get away with it in the first time in a while.”
Brookline-based Gibson Sotheby’s Unlimited principal and Managing Broker Jon Ufland said his agents have had many buyers who value outdoor kitchenettes and structures or porches that extend how long a home’s yard can be used throughout the year.
“If you think about it, [these spaces were] really the only way when we ever got to see our friends, to hang out outside and socially distance” during the year, he said.
Open Plan on the Outs
Once a hot commodity thanks to their value as entertaining spaces and their ability to connect family members on the same floor, open-plan first floors appear to be losing popularity, Realtors said. More than a few buyers he helped looked for open–plan homes that still had the ability to close off areas into offices, Ufland said.
This need for a separate office could be a lasting feature of the market. Many white-collar buyers seem to have faith that remote work will be a part of their lives, at least for part of the week, for some time, he said.
This faith helped some buyers feel comfortable with buying single-family homes further away from work but closer to family or further into the suburbs where homes are more affordable, Czepiel said. It also drove demand for home office space in condominiums.
James Sanna
“If their family is west [of Boston], they will start looking west instead of the North Shore if they had been looking North Shore previously,” he said. “Pre-COVID one of the most important things was commute, and now it’s one of the least important things for my clients. That was the biggest change.”
These sudden changes in buyer tastes could put some homes at a disadvantage, however. Buyers are still putting a premium on recently renovated homes, Jack Conway’s Bulman said.
“I think the buyer today is less interested in pulling down wallpaper and doing over the cabinets. If anyone’s looking to sell right now, they should focus on kitchens and bathrooms,” she said. “The best thing to do is to speak to their Realtor and ask them for an honest opinion: I have $20,000 to spend, what should I do?”
