Why brokers need to understand the ‘why’ of where homebuyers want to live
Even as most commercial real estate sectors either stabilized or began to surge in 2025, the office sector continued to lag.
While prime office space seems to be bouncing back well, other office spaces have not yet recovered from the pandemic and the subsequent work-from-home movement.
However, in 2025, many large corporations ordered employees back to the office, either full-time or several days a week. This helped fill some empty office spaces. But what is the outlook for the office sector heading into 2026, and what do brokers need to know about customer trends regarding return to office?
John Walkup (pictured top) is the co-founder of UrbanDigs, a real estate data analytics company. He said the first thing to understand is that these customers don’t necessarily hate city living.
“I think it's especially more acute in markets, especially in urban markets like New York, Chicago, Boston, where you have urban downtown centers, and then you can drift away from those into suburbia,” Walkup told Mortgage Professional America. “A lot of that, of course, was powered by remote work.
“As you're seeing more return to the office, a lot of the reason that people moved away was not that they didn't like the city. It's just that they like living outside the city. They like the space, the privacy, and they didn't have to worry about the commute.”
A new amenity: Lack of commute
Walkup said brokers will need to work with customers to understand how they feel about a work commute and consider that when beginning the homebuying process.
“If you start factoring the commute back in, the way I'm looking at it is that the lack of a commute may be the next hot amenity for 2026,” Walkup said. “While you have all of these things, the suburbs, the exurbs, rural life basically have space. You can have your pets. You've got a quiet, dark sky.
“All the things that people really love about living outside the city, at the end of the day, they're going to have to balance it like, ‘How often do I have to go back? What does that commute look like?’ And there might be some decisions that have to be made.”
It’s an issue mortgage brokers need to stay in tune with, because Walkup said he’s not sure how it’s going to shake out. Will customers give up their space to move back to the city close to work, keep a lengthy commute to remain in the countryside, or find another job?
“It comes down to the individual homeowner,” he said. “For them, it is, ‘Is this the place for me, or do I need to relocate back closer?’ I'm not quite sure which way it's going to go. I just simply think that that's going to be a lot more of a discussion point. I think it might help some urban markets recover, simply because we've already seen the worst go the other way. So now I think we might see a little bit of a discussion to come back.”
‘Location, location, location’
The decision for homeowners and potential buyers on where to locate in relation to large markets isn’t just about the space provided in the suburbs. Walkup said it may come down to what urban markets can offer beyond basic housing and the lack of a commute.
“For a lot of the post-pandemic recovery, there’s a surge in markets outside of some of the urban markets,” Walkup said. “When you look at what's going on in Texas and Florida, a lot of these markets are about, ‘How do I want to live? Well, I want to have more space. I want to have privacy. I want to have a pool.’
“If you're in an urban market, it was all about, what kind of amenities do you want? ‘Well, I want a lounge, and I want a gym, and I want a movie theater, all of these things.’ I feel like the amenity this year is the lack of commute.”
Industry optimism for 2026 centers on wholesale growth, borrower education, and evolving loan products. David Temko and Perri Garner of C2 Financial outline why flexibility and choice remain key advantages for brokers in a changing mortgage landscape.https://t.co/msnuWwbeee
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) December 17, 2025
Even though the circumstances around the pandemic and its housing fallout were unique, Walkup said it all comes back to the same real estate principles that have driven the business for decades.
“It's subtly shifting the conversation from how you're living to where you're living,” he said. “It's almost like we're going back to the future. It's location, location, location. This is coming back in vogue, so that's the old real estate adage. But I feel like you can't get away from it, and here it is again.
“I feel like the cities and a lot of the businesses in these urban areas have certainly learned some lessons over the past few years, and I think that'll come back to help. At the same time, there is certainly a draw to not being in the city. So I feel like that location has had its premium over the last few years. I don't think it's diminished. I just think it now has competition.”
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