During the pandemic reports have shown that homeowners across the UK transformed their spare bedrooms into offices, gymnasiums, home cinemas and studios. In fact, figures released by Zoopla show that 41% of UK homeowners adapted their property to suit their changing needs resulting from the ‘new normal’ we are all experiencing.

Among the nine million people who changed their homes, more than 50% said that they repurposed a bedroom while just over 20% changed several bedrooms to accommodate a new way of life. This equates to nearly 9 million bedrooms that have been changed out of the 24 million private homes.

Remote working has been the norm for many people and going forward it looks like it’s here to stay – at least as a hybrid model. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that nearly half of those who made changes to their home have created a home office. This equates to 4.5m home offices in the UK and half of homeowners plan to keep their office in place going forwards.

As well as home offices, homeowners have made these room changes:

1.3m home gyms
984,000 home bars
900,000 home cinemas or music rooms
688,800 dedicated classrooms

Cost

Changing a room in your home and repurposing into something else obviously has an associated cost. Zoopla’s research shows that people spent an average of £3,714 per room with the home cinema coming in at the most expensive.

Home offices have been a necessity for so many employees needing a quiet place in which to continue working effectively. However, this also poses the question as to who should be paying for them. The research shows that 16% of those who have created a home office are unhappy about having to make this change to carry out their role, and 67% believe that their employer should pay for all or some of the cost of this. Only 2% of those who create a home office say that their employer offered some compensation and 10% covered the full cost.

When you consider the effect – less space to live, no place for guests to stay, children having to share bedrooms – many people are unhappy with this especially those living in smaller homes. This has promoted a huge spike in demand for larger homes pushing up prices and causing a lack of supply over the last 18 months.

Many people have considered moving home as a result of these new ways of working, with 32% saying they have now considered moving as a result of the pandemic.

If you are considering moving to accommodate your new way of working talk to us at Caledonia Bureau. We can match you with the ideal home for your circumstances so give us a call today!