It is now official: the quarantine of these last two and a half months has changed the habits of Italians also on the real estate front. The forced enclosure between the four home walls has pushed thousands of people looking for larger houses, complete with a garden and/or swimming pool, the so-called “vent” outdoor spaces.
Since the beginning of March, the Real Estate sector has in fact recorded a considerable increase in requests for this type of property. This trend has been highlighted by the in-depth analyzes dedicated to national newspapers of the caliber of Corriere della Sera and La Stampa. So let’s take a closer look at the picture.
How the habits of Italians have changed
The lockdown has radically transformed the destination of use of home spaces and environments, giving them a whole new connotation.
Thanks to smart working – almost mandatory during the closure of offices and companies – in the absence of rooms used as a study, rooms, remnants of living rooms and even kitchens were converted into “remote offices”. From which we all participated in meetings, call conferences and simply carried out our daily activities.
Not only. If on the one hand the tables in the living room have become real office desks, on the other sofas and rugs have turned into branches of nursery schools, play areas and dog areas, where you can give vent to the desire for fun for children and pets. It is an opportunity to spend more time with your family, even outside the canonical hours that marked our days until a few months ago.
Week after week, however, this new routine has begun to weigh on many. Difficulties were not lacking among cats that paw on the keyboard, children engaged in turning the house upside down and parents divided between work, raising their children and the usual household chores. Seasoned by the total lack of help from grandparents and babysitters, who in turn are blocked by the pandemic. And so, the sense of claustrophobia has made its way not only among adults, but also and above all among the youngest ones, who have most felt the lack of play and outdoor activities. Frustration over forced confinement did the rest.
And here we are to the point: not all Italians – indeed, very few – have available outdoor spaces in addition to the service balcony or a more or less large terrace. And never as in the two months of lockdown has this need been perceived as primary. The garden is the place where children can play games, where they can have fun with their dog and, again, where they can relax at the end of a long day at work. It is the place that, especially during the summer, multiplies the livability and usability of the home, giving entertainment and, at the same time, a quieter environment in which to practice smart working. Also because the Covid emergency has made work from home a habit that many companies and professional realities will not abandon shortly or, in some cases, never.
The solution? “Change house, but only with garden”
In short, our habits and our homes have been turned upside down as socks and the Italians have not wasted time looking for a solution that could combine domestic serenity and work productivity. This explains the exponential increase in requests for homes with outdoor spaces to be adapted to mini playgrounds (complete with houses, swings and slides), or to real solariums with deckchairs and gazebos for snacks and aperitifs. Or, again, for the more fortunate in alternative seaside resorts, made possible by more or less improvised swimming pools and beaches. In fact, not yet knowing the fate of our holidays, many Italians may decide to prefer comfortable solutions made literally at home to expensive and tiring trips to destinations that have become – for the moment – difficult to reach. If not even take the long-dreamed step: buy a second home in a seaside or mountain resort. Provided, however, that even in this case, there is no shortage of large outdoor spaces, even at the cost of sacrificing a few square meters of interior.
Swimming pool, what a pleasure
As reported by corriere.it, Italian searches give priority to homes with swimming pools: in Palermo, for example, six times more than in the past were requested, while in Santa Margherita Ligure – leader of the Ligurian coast – the growth in interest it has been 43 times in just two weeks. No less important were Forte dei Marmi (200% increase) and the Livorno coast (request 12 times higher than at the beginning of the lockdown).
If the swimming pool is the most coveted requirement, the garden follows it closely: in Veneto, Campania and Lazio searches have doubled, with Jesolo bridgehead by +209%.
The numbers are clear: in the Bel Paese there is a desire to go back out, but at the same time, the responsibility that leads to doing it in the safest way is strong. Where then, if not at home?