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The Covid Effect: Homeowners seeking more private, office space

Family members hunkering down together are looking for a room of their own

The latest Covid variant has many realizing they need a room of their own. (Getty)
The latest Covid variant has many realizing they need a room of their own. (Getty)

 

The man-cave isn’t just for dads anymore. Now everyone wants their own space.

Open-concept living areas featuring great rooms connecting kitchen, living and dining areas are still popular in the time of Covid-19, but families members who may be seeing too much of each other as they hunker down are increasingly seeking a room of their own.

And that means increasing space in private portions of the home to accommodate larger sleeping areas or places to get work done, according to the website Mansion Global.

“People want space, generous layouts, room for a king or queen size bed in all bedrooms, and a home office in addition to that,” Bianca D’Alessio of NestSeekers International in New York told the publication.

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Extra rooms are now at the top of many buyers’ wish lists, with additional bedrooms being converted to workout areas, offices or a library where dwellers can go to decompress — even if main areas of the house stay wide open.

“In my experience, the vast majority of buyers do [still] prefer the open floor plan, because we’re all living much more casually,” Nicole Hechter, a Corcoran agent in New York, told the website. “However there has been a real trend towards needing at bare minimum a home office or extra bedroom — for people working from home with kids doing homework at home it’s critical.”

As the Omnicron variant bears down, sending students back home and keeping office workers from their commutes, the need for flexibility in the home is becoming more apparent, the site says.

That means even having the option of closing off open spaces with pocket doors to ensure kids can get privacy while doing their homework in the living room as food gets prepared in the kitchen.

“Because we are in such an unknown moment regarding the pandemic, I think people are looking for flexibility to be able to pivot if we need to,” Nikki Field, founder of The Field Team at Sotheby’s International Realty in New York, told the publication.

[Mansion Global] — Vince DiMiceli