A lot about the way we live changed during the pandemic. Some of those changes were temporary. Others, though, are here for the long term. Remote work, for example. The Internet made working from home a possibility but it was the pandemic that turned it into a reality. Now, more than three years later, it's clear that remote work is here to stay.
So are the changes it brought to the housing market. With more people able to work from anywhere, ideas about how and where we want to live changed too. People who no longer needed to consider their commute were free to live wherever they'd like – and many took advantage.
That led to growing demand for privacy, space, and affordability which pushed buyers further from urban centers and out into the suburbs and exurbs. The subsequent surge in competition for homes, higher prices, and faster sales in those areas has largely continued ever since, as remote-working home buyers exchange proximity to city centers for more space and lower costs.