What has living and working from home taught us?
As more of us are living, working and schooling at home – what have we learned about the spaces we are living in? Above all, we have learned that our homes have never been more important.
When most of us moved into our current homes, little did we realise that one day those same four walls would be also be home to work, school and our social life for weeks on end.
It’s a lifestyle not many of us dreamed of – but with the Covid-19 restrictions ensuring that most of our waking hours are now spent at home it’s a reality most of us are facing. And the things we’re learning have the power to radically alter the way we live.
While some of us are experiencing the physical and mental challenges of isolation, many of us are also questioning what home means to us and how our living spaces and our locations can impact our physical and mental wellbeing.
Countless Australians have spent their time in isolation de-cluttering, rearranging furniture, gardening, creating home offices, taking a daily walk outside in nature and dreaming of new home features they never considered pre-pandemic.
While builders have noticed an increase in the demand for home offices, study nooks and gyms – it seems Australians are collectively grappling with the long-term outcomes of Covid-19. As many of us have adapted to the new technical challenges of working from home, experts agree that flexible work practices might remain in place even as the physical restrictions ease.
And if we are commuting to work less, this means that many homebuyers could choose to live further from work and enjoy the tree-change they’ve been dreaming of.
So what have we learned from all this? Here are our top five tips on designing your new post-pandemic dream home…
Live in a location that you love
As more people plan to continue working from home in some capacity even as Covid-19 restrictions are lifted – this means that you can broaden your geographic search for a place to call home when looking to buy or build a new home. If you have to commute to the office less, it makes sense that you can live a little further away than you previously might have. This means you’re likely to get more value for money as you move further away from the Adelaide CBD and into the more regional lifestyle destinations like the Adelaide Hills and the new North. We have already seen an upsurge in demand for regions such as Mount Barker, Virginia and Angle Vale as an increased investment in infrastructure (such as the Bald Hills Road Freeway Interchange and the Northern Connector) have made these towns increasingly popular with young families.
Stay connected
Ensure your new home has the best NBN connection possible so that working from home in the future will be seamless. New developments in general have the newest, fastest internet speeds and looking to buy in one of these new communities means you’ll also have the chance to build your dream home from the ground up.
Home is where the heart is
And, for now, where the office is also! When thinking about your new floorplan, designate IT spaces for working and learning from home. You can design these spaces to be as open or private as you need, with all the right connections for your devices. Demand has also increased for home gyms and butler’s pantries to fit all of our new bread makers and gadgets post Covid crisis!
Be surrounded by nature
Now more than ever, being surrounded by nature is important. Enjoying your new routine of a daily walk but don’t want to give it up in the return to normal life? Choose a place to live that is close to walking trails and opportunities to exercise outdoors. At each Lanser development, each block of land is located within walking distance to parks, fitness trails and outdoor exercise facilities.
Community is key
Every Lanser development has been designed to bring community together. Healthy communities are paramount and the kindness amongst neighbours at our developments across South Australia has been heartening during these difficult times. As homebuyers look further afield to build their dream home, regional towns and their close-knit sense of identity and community are appreciated now more than ever. Instead of just searching for the right block of land to build on, make sure you also do some research on the community you’d like to call home.
To find out more about making a Lanser community home, please call (08) 8132 1115.