More Multifamily Residents Continue To Work From Home

Multifamily News – More Residents Continue To Work From Home Following Pandemic

jeremy raglin Portland Rental News and Tips March 2, 2022 | 0

If you lived in Portland or another big city in the United States, it wasn’t uncommon for residents who lived in the city to work in the city as well.

Following the pandemic, many PDX residents transitioned from working out of the office to working from home in their apartments.

For multifamily owners, this presented a big challenge because most residents were not just home at night anymore, they were home all day and those residents wanted more from their properties.

As the pandemic winds down, many PDX residents are doing what other people who live in multifamily properties are doing nationwide, they are continuing to work from home, even though the Pandemic is winding down, and life is slowly getting back to normal.

What’s Next For Multifamily?

With more multifamily residents continuing to work from home, the big question is what’s next for the multifamily market?

Here’s a breakdown of what’s important to multifamily residents in 2022 and beyond.

Connectivity – Multifamily tenants in 2022 want fast internet and excellent connectivity in their units. This means that the unit has to be wired for Oregon high-speed internet or there must be high-speed wi-fi that they can easily connect to inside the building.

Security – Besides excellent internet inside their unit, tenants also want to have peace of mind that their rental properties are going to be secure as well. This means that the multifamily community must should be gated, have good lighting and be monitored so that tenants can have peace of mind in the safety of their building.

Amenities – Today’s tenants also want amenities but that’s not always possible, especially if the building is older, or a Class C multifamily property.

Thankfully, adding amenities to a multifamily property isn’t always difficult, owners can get creative and add amenities like covered parking, dog runs, meeting area, in-unit laundry, and onsite storage. These amenities are cost-effective to add and can go the extra mile at showing tenants that their business is valued by landlords.

Working From Home Is Here To Stay

Teleworking has eased a bit since the start of the pandemic but remains a trend that housing operators must acknowledge.

At the end of 2019, Buffer, a brand, and social media marketing company, polled 3,500 teleworkers, and nearly all said they wanted to work remotely for the remainder of their careers. The latest data isn’t as consistent but suggests that a significant number of workers don’t want to go back to work at the office, even as pandemic restrictions have eased.

Futurist Geoff Colvin looked ahead in 2020 and said that apartments can provide value by accommodating residents who either must or prefer to work from home. He added that Millennials and Gen Z’s, who constitute a core apartment demographic, are more likely to embrace working remotely for the long term.

The survey also reflects that renters crave flexibility in where they live. Nearly half of respondents (46%) would consider joining a rental housing membership program that would allow its members the flexibility to move between communities within a brand’s network of properties (similar to a vacation club).