The pandemic has changed how we use our homes. We are spending more time in them, and in turn, surprisingly, that new lifestyle has impacted the economy in new and different ways. The housing market is still doing well, retail sales associated with home life are showing strong sales, and new trends are emerging such as more home cooking and baking.

Because of pandemic quarantines, lock downs, and safety concerns, the home has become more than were we start and end our days. We are working from our homes, our children are schooling in our homes, and entertainment in our home is the top choice.

Families, friends, and individuals are seeking out properties to better suit their new lifestyle needs. Where once a more open concept plan for living areas were the desire, the old floor plans offering privacy and defined spaces are becoming the top choice once again.

Homeowners are choosing to move home or to remortgage and release built up equity into cash in which to use to upgrade, improve, and update their current living spaces.

Home buyers are finding that where once they might have wanted to start out in a flat within the bustling busy communities, they are now shopping for more room not only inside the home, but outside of it as well. Demand is strong for properties offering up play areas for children and pets, gardening to raise vegetables, and fun entertainment options. Countryside is more appealing for the pandemic lifestyle versus the center of city living.

Some families are choosing to bring extended family into the home. Rather than families spending lockdowns alone, they are choosing to make the home larger in which to accommodate multiple generations to ride out the pandemic together and to combine expenses.

Kitchens are being used more and more as families are cooking and eating at home rather than dining out. They are baking breads, and choosing more complex recipes of years gone by. Though well designed kitchens were a strong draw for home buyers, now they are even more so according to home buyers shopping for the perfect property for their needs.

The Christmas holiday is expected to be a strong time for the housing market, and likely the services and products associated with home living will do well. Interest rates will continue to make borrowing cheap which will fuel the interest in home buying and remortgaging, which can offer cash back through equity release, but also savings in the monthly repayments with a lower interest rate.