Sustainability of the Housing Market: Post-COVID-19 Effects on Housing Preferences in Cyprus

After the announcement of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, people around the world had to adopt online education, working from home and social-distancing policies in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. The lockdowns and home isolation brought to the surface the current limitations of the existing housing stock as people needed to re-organize their home space to host various daytime functionalities. Therefore, one could question whether the priorities of potential homebuyers have been changed due to technology, health, and socialization alteration? This study explores the preferences for housing attributes and trends in Cyprus post-COVID-19 pandemic and compares these against the views of real estate professionals who represent the Cypriot residential demand prior the pandemic. Data were gathered via qualitative surveys from 117 potential homebuyers and 36 real estate professionals from across Cyprus. A survey methodology with questionnaires was used to analyze the changes in the real estate demand between the pre- and post-COVID-19 periods. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the mean importance of the housing attributes and to compare the results from the pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic periods. The analysis found a shift toward houses rather than apartments, and the results suggest that new housing should contain more capacity for private use spaces, and at the same time, it should be designed with flexible and adaptive layouts to accommodate more activities. This study discusses whether these shifts are likely to be temporary or permanent and the implications for real estate professionals.