Many homebuyers often begin house-hunting by thinking about the number of bedrooms and bathrooms they want in their new home. Nowadays, however, one of the first questions a buyer may ask is what kind of internet access is available and whether there is dedicated office space.

To help buyers better evaluate what areas of the U.S. would be best for remote work, the National Association of Realtors has created a Work from Home Score for 3,142 counties in the country.

The “2020 Work from Home Counties” report looks at the current share of workers already working from home along with several other factors expected to support the remote work trend, including internet connectivity, the percentage of workers in office-related jobs, home affordability, urbanization and a county’s population growth.

“The coronavirus pandemic greatly accelerated the number of workers who are able to work from home,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “Possibly a quarter of the labor force may be permitted to work from anywhere outside of the office even after a vaccine is discovered – compared to only 5% prior to the pandemic – and this will greatly change the landscape of where people buy homes.”

In fact, the report says one of the best counties in the country for at-home work is Utah County, which ranked in the top 30 at No. 27. From 2014-2018, 7% of Utah County workers worked from home. Nearly 93% of the population of Utah County also had access to three or more broadband internet service providers as of June 2019.

Davis County also scored high on the list of best places to work from home, coming in at No. 38 in the country. The county has about 6% of workers conducting remote work and nearly 98% of the population having three or more broadband providers. Not far behind was Summit County at No. 41 with 13% working from home and 84% having access to multiple broadband ISPs.

Salt Lake and Tooele counties had the fourth- and fifth-best Work from Home Scores in the state.

The National Association of Realtors conducted the study because the work-from-home trend is likely to change certain aspects of the real estate market.

“A larger fraction of workers allowed to work from home will change the mix of demand for residential and commercial real estate between the city and the suburb, give rise to new home designs that allow workers to work from home effectively, and change the way offices are configured geographically to enable the most efficient way for workers to work remotely,” the study said.

Home buyers can use the Work from Home Score to determine what counties have affordable homes along with good internet connectivity and supportive conditions for working from home.

“With some organizations expanding remote work options and as more people show an ability to remain productive from home, we may see buyers seek larger properties that offer space for a potential home office and other features that have become more valuable as a result of this pandemic,” said NAR President Vince Malta, broker at Malta & Co., Inc., in San Francisco, Calif. “The growing trend and historically low mortgage rates are spurring potential homebuyers to consider a broader range of options and rethink what’s important to them in the long term.”

To see all of the Work from Home Scores in Utah and across the country, visit Nar.Realtor and search for “Work from Home Counties.”

To learn more about home-buying and what to look for as you search for a house that’s conducive to remote work, contact a local Realtor. A directory of Utah Realtors is available at MyRealtorStory.com.

Home buyers are offering $20,000-$30,000 over list price just to secure a home. Builders have 10-15 buyers for every home they construct. Dozens of buyers compete for every entry-level home. In one case, an offer $15,000 over list price wasn’t enough to entice a seller.

These are just a few stories about Utah’s hot seller’s market from those familiar with current housing conditions.

A new paper for the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah attempts to explain the phenomenon of Utah’s housing market resiliency amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, the organization hosted a panel presentation with housing market experts and published a new research brief titled, “What’s Keeping Utah’s Real Estate Market Hot in the Time of COVID?”

Dejan Eskic, senior research analyst at the Policy Institute and author of the research brief, attributes the robust real estate activity to three factors: pent-up demand, record low resale inventory and historically low mortgage rates.

Here’s how these three factors are affecting Utah’s housing market:

Pent-up Demand

Utah has a housing shortage with more people wanting to buy homes than there are homes available. During the panel presentation, Eskic said Utah has about 53,000 more households than it has housing units. This is driving up home prices.

Meanwhile, Eskic notes that Utah has a home-building boom with officials approving a record 13,792 building permits for the first six months of 2020.

Still, the panelists say more needs to be done to keep up with Utah’s growth as more people move into the state.

Boyd Martin, Utah division president with homebuilder D.R. Horton and a panel participant, says one of his biggest obstacles to building more homes is the lack of land and the resistance to high-density housing. He noted that even though his company makes about the same percentage of profit on each home as they did in the early 2000s, the costs to build a home have increased significantly, which has resulted in high prices for homebuyers.

Martin and Dave Robison, president of the Utah Association of Realtors and a panel participant, both say the majority of the housing demand is not from investors. It is from people who want to live in the homes.

Record Low Resale Inventory

Even though it’s a great seller’s market, some homeowners are hesitant to list their homes because of the pandemic. Eskic’s report notes that the average number of listings between May and August is down 31% compared to the same period in 2019.

Robison said he’s seeing a 53% decline in housing inventory as people quickly buy available homes. He said he’s also seeing a record in the number of houses that are currently under contract.

Out-of-state buyers are also snatching up Utah housing inventory. With the rise in remote work, Robison and Martin say they are seeing many people moving here from California and other states to take advantage of the Utah lifestyle.

 Historically Low Mortgage Rates

Low mortgage rates are also driving homebuyer activity.

Even though home prices have increased, mortgage payments remain manageable. According to the report, the payment for the median-priced home of $355,000 in June 2019 was $1,655. In June 2020, the median sales price was $380,000, yet the monthly payment fell to $1,636 because of the decline in rates.

“Declining mortgage rates have incentivized buyers to lock in an historically low rate,” the report said.

To read the report in its entirety, visit Gardner.Utah.edu. To learn more about what’s happening in the housing market in your area, contact a local Realtor. Find one at MyRealtorStory.com.