By 1808Delaware
Apparently, local workers like the idea of foregoing a commute to the office.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently set out to identify the best “Work from Home” Counties across the country. One it found was very, very close to home.
NAR’s 2020 “Work from Home” Counties report examines the current share of workers already working from home in more than 3,000 U.S. counties, along with several factors expected to support the remote work trend, including: internet connectivity, the percentage of workers in office-related jobs, home affordability, urbanization, and a county’s population growth
“The coronavirus pandemic greatly accelerated the number of workers who are able to work from home,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Possibly a quarter of the labor force may be permitted to work from anywhere outside of the office even after a vaccine is discovered – compared to only 5% prior to the pandemic – and this will greatly change the landscape of where people buy homes.”
NAR assigned “Work from Home” scores for 3,142 U.S. counties. The top 30 counties, all of which have at least 5,000 households as of 2019, represent about 1% of all counties. Texas leads all states with seven counties among the top 30. Virginia is second with four, followed by Colorado and Georgia with three each, and Florida and North Carolina with two apiece. The following states have one county each within the top 30: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah.
“With some organizations expanding remote work options and as more people show an ability to remain productive from home, we may see buyers seek larger properties that offer space for a potential home office and other features that have become more valuable as a result of this pandemic,” said NAR President Vince Malta, broker at Malta & Co., Inc., in San Francisco, California. “The growing trend and historically-low mortgage rates are spurring potential homebuyers to consider a broader range of options and rethink what’s important to them in the long term.”
The growing number of people working remotely also impacts commercial real estate, particularly the office sector, with future office sizes and locations potentially changing as a result.
Delaware County was ranked at number 8 nationwide by the NAR study, the only Ohio county in the top ten.
Statistics used for this measure include the following for the county:
- Percent of workers who worked at home, 2018: 8.1%
- Percent of population with 3 or more broadband ISPs, 2019: 99.4%
- Percent of households with broadband, 2018: 92.1%
- Percent of households with desktop or laptop, 2018: 90.7%
- Percent of housing units in urban area, 2018: 80.4%
- Percent of civilian workers in office-intensive industries, 2018: 34.3%
- Median home value, 2018: $293,900.00
- Home price to income ratio, 2018: 2.8
- Percent homeowners with mortgage spending over 30% of income on housing, 2018: 19.7%
“With some organizations expanding remote work options and as more people show an ability to remain productive from home, we may see buyers seek larger properties that offer space for a potential home office and other features that have become more valuable as a result of this pandemic,” said NAR President Vince Malta, broker at Malta & Co., Inc., in San Francisco, California. “The growing trend and historically-low mortgage rates are spurring potential homebuyers to consider a broader range of options and rethink what’s important to them in the long term.”
