Are you looking for somewhere with a home office?

As working from home continues to be the new normal for many of us, we’ve seen certain property features become more popular than ever.

Estate agents tell us they’re noticing more buyers looking for space to work from home, with a 326% jump in use of terms ’office’, ‘workspace’ and ‘working from home’ in property listings.

There’s also been a jump of 90% in the number of buyers and renters searching for an outbuilding and a jump of 89% for ‘annex’ or ‘annexe’ searches.

Between June and October last year, 28% more new properties came to market compared to the same period last year, and of all those new listings, there was an annual jump of 326% in listings that mentioned terms like ‘office’, ‘workspace’ and ‘working from home’ in the property description.

Agents have also reported an increase in demand for people looking for outbuildings and annexes where people can set up a home office, with the use of Rightmove’s keyword sort tool mirroring this trend.

Home-hunters using the tool to search for ‘outbuilding’ is up 90% on this time last year, and is up 89% for ‘annex’ or ‘annexe’.

People using the tool to search for properties with ‘no chain’ is also up 110%, likely as people look to buy quickly to take advantage of the temporary  stamp duty holiday ending in March.

How long do homes take to secure a buyer?

What do the experts say?

Our resident property data expert Tim Bannister explained that lots of home-hunters are looking for homes that are big enough to accommodate a home office space.

He said: “Over the past eight months, with the requirement for many people to work from home, we’ve seen workspaces evolving from laptops balancing on the end of the bed to fully equipped home offices in the garden shed, and everything in between. 

“Many home-movers have determined that their current property doesn’t offer enough space for effective home working and have been trading up – either within their local area or looking further afield for that bigger home. 

“Agents I’ve been speaking to have said that they’ve been inundated with requests from prospective buyers for properties with an extra reception room, an extra bedroom, or an extra building outside that they can turn into a functioning office.

“Working from home is here to stay for many, perhaps not full-time but certainly a few days a week, and so it looks like the trend of home-hunters settling for a make-shift place to perch a laptop seen back in March has been replaced with a more permanent need for space being added to their property checklist.”

READ MORE: How do I get my home ready to sell?

To search for homes with a home office space, use our keyword sort tool.