At Austin Property Services, we are keen to provide you with as much support and guidance as possible in the housing market. Buyers and vendors have had to deal with many new challenges of late, but remote working is one of the biggest issues.

As well as keeping in touch with local vendors and buyers, we also stay in touch with national studies and surveys. This helps us to help you make an informed decision in the housing market.

A study by the insurance company Aviva will be of interest, with respect to the housing market.

The study conducted by Aviva highlights the following findings:

• 34% of homeworkers currently use an office inside their property

• 43% plan to use an office inside their home in the future

• The number of people who currently work in an outbuilding or converted shed is 10%, but expected to rise to 13%

How are people working from home?

While it would be nice to think people transitioned to remote working smoothly, this hasn’t been the case. Many people have found remote working to be a struggle.

Some of the ways people are working from home include:

• 48% are using tables in rooms designed for another use

• 22% are using sofas and armchairs

• 14% are working from their bed

• 31% of homeworkers aged under 25 have said they work from their bed on occasions

ONS data indicated 46.6% of people employed in the UK worked from home in April of last year. 86% of these people were working remotely because of the pandemic, which equates to 13 million people.

Is remote working positive for professionals?

Aviva carried out a study in autumn last year, and they found many people considered remote working as a positive aspect. The study spoke to close to 1,400 professionals who were working remotely. The study found:

• 48% of respondents said it was less stressful than their standard working practice

• 57% benefitted from the lack of commuting

• 29% enjoyed more time with their family

• 42% said they enjoyed not worrying about what they had to wear

• 19% of respondents said they found working from home more stressful

• 27% of respondents said they don’t have a suitable space to work

• 19% felt they were competing with others for space

• 18% of respondents said it was too noisy at home

Gareth Hemming, MD, Personal Lines, Aviva, says: “Flexible working and home-working practices have been around for some time, but they have really come into their own in the last year. Many employees report they have been less stressed and more productive as a result of working from home. They have had the flexibility to work around their personal lives and they have been trusted to work in a way that suits them.”

Gareth also said; “While home-working is not the choice of every individual, we are likely to see more flexibility as a basic benchmark for the future, with many people working remotely, at least some of the time. Many insurance providers adapted their home products during the pandemic to allow people to work from home without making any changes to their policies, but if customers are unsure about their cover, they should speak to their insurer to check that it is suitable for their circumstances.”

We know many people have questions and queries right now, and we are here to help as best we can. Please get in touch with Austin Property Services if there is anything, we can assist you with. You can call us on 01305 858470 or you can email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..