How Remote Work Is Changing Where People Buy in BC

From commute-first to home-first

A daily commute to downtown Vancouver from White Rock is a serious proposition. Two or three days a week is a different calculation, and a lot of households made it. The result was a wave of buyers from Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore arriving in South Surrey, White Rock and Langley from 2020 on, trading a short commute they no longer made every day for space, a yard, a home office and the ocean. That wave has slowed with rates and with some employers calling people back, but hybrid work has settled in as the norm for a large share of professional households, and the geography it created has stuck.

What hybrid means for the Highway 99 commute

The Peninsula's commute to Vancouver runs through the Massey Tunnel, and it is bad at peak. Buyers who have to make it five days a week should test it before they commit. Buyers making it twice a week, and able to shift those days around meetings and traffic, find it tolerable, and the hours saved on the other three days are the whole point of living here. When I interview a buyer now I ask not just where they work but how many days, and whether those days are fixed. A household with one fully remote partner and one on three days a week has far more freedom in where it lives than it did in 2019.

The home office is a must-have now

Five years ago a den was a bonus. Now a dedicated workspace with a door is on nearly every buyer's list, and two of them for many couples. This has changed what sells. A three-bedroom townhome where one bedroom becomes an office is really a two-bedroom for a family, and buyers price it that way. Detached homes with a finished basement room, a den off the entry or a converted garage have gained. Older South Surrey homes with a formal dining room nobody used have found a new purpose. When I list a home I stage the office as an office, because that is what buyers are picturing.

What to check before you buy

• Internet. Fibre is widespread in South Surrey and White Rock but not universal, and some acreages and older pockets have limited options. Ask the seller what service they have and test the speed during a showing.
• Cell coverage. Parts of the hillside and the bluff have weak spots. Check your carrier in the house.
• A room with a door, not a corner of the living room, and ideally one that is not the bedroom you also sleep in.
• Light and noise. A north-facing basement room is a hard place to spend eight hours. A room facing the street or a construction site is a hard place to take calls.
• Power and heat. Older homes may need an electrical circuit added and a heating solution for a room that was never meant to be occupied all day.

What it means for sellers

If your home has a good office space, show it as one. If it has a flexible room, say what it could be. If you are in a neighbourhood that gained from the remote-work shift, your buyer pool is wider than it was and includes people who would never have considered the Peninsula when they commuted daily. Market to them: the home, the lifestyle, the two days a week on the highway rather than five.

The short version

• Hybrid work made the Peninsula and the Valley viable for households that used to need a short commute, and that shift has stuck.
• Ask how many days, not just where. The commute is a different question at two days a week.
• A home office with a door is a must-have, and two for many couples.
• Check internet, cell coverage, light and power in the room you will actually work in.

If you are considering a move here because your work has changed, tell me your schedule and I will show you what it opens up. For a lot of people it is more than they assumed.