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The pandemic has been confined to citizens. After more than forty days of imprisonment, the houses have ceased to be those places where we were to spend some hours of the day and night to become homes with a capital where you can spend 24 hours a day. A close relation which, in the opinion of the experts, will prioritize aspects up to now neglected in future decisions to buy or rent. is A change of trend that is already beginning to see the real estate sector : increases the demand of houses with terrace, outdoor living spaces and outside of the large cities.

Lluís Comerón, president of the Superior Council of Colleges of Architects of Spain (Cscae)), states that ” we have homes designed for our parents and grandparents , designed for performances of a society that were already different before the Covid-19. Stay at home is making us to realize this and put the attention on issues such as if it gets light enough or not, if we get the sun, if there is cross ventilation and it is giving value to have spaces such as balconies, terraces or galleries”.

flexible layout

Comerón precise, used to be more time away from home, we have paid less attention to the comfort and to the interior spaces. To this sum the consideration of the house more as an investment than as a good of use, something that recognizes “we’ve hurt always to the architects, this is why we demand a Law of Architecture. We need homes with flexible distribution, and since there are construction techniques that allow you to move partitions, and adapt the spaces according to the needs. Homes where you can work, play, live… We have accepted the meters the minimum standards of construction, assuming for example smaller houses without a terrace by the additional costs that involves. This is a great opportunity to catch up, to make reforms that, in addition, take into account the energy efficiency and the quality of the built environment”, and insists that “prior to this health crisis, we were already quite behind other countries in aspects of conditioning.

you Will need a home renovation of a 3% annual and in Spain, we are in the 0.2 per cent “.

Balconies and terraces have become spaces quoted these days. “ The facades of the buildings of the early twentieth century incorporated by standard with a small balcony , and in the 60’s and 70’s buildings were built with terraces. But later, in the 80’s and 90’s, they began to shut down in order to gain space. After, in most buildings, the exterior spaces accounted for between 10% and 20%, present in only low and attics”, explains Enric Jimenez, CEO of Property Buyers by Somrie, who notes a greater demand for houses with balcony, flats with terrace and outdoor spaces.

New housing with flexible distribution: spaces adaptable where you work, play, live…Space-worthy in size, lighting, ventilation, thermal comfort and outdoor areas

In the midst of the uncertainty, various studies, such as that led by a group of immunologists and epidemiologists of the Harvard University point out that to mitigate the possibility of a resurgence of the infection, you can require from now and until vaccine, intermittent periods of confinement. “If it continues this situation, the telework will be key. We have already noticed an increase of requests for property in nearby towns or away from the center of the city, where it is prioritized to have more yards and exterior spaces,” explains Jimenez, who accurate that in other countries with greater implementation of telework, the buyer opts for dwellings more comfortable with outdoor spaces. “They changed their mentality a long time ago, here’s what we’re doing in a month”, he says. And to the question of whether the increase in demand will imply an increase in the price of these properties, this expert has it clear: “If all the world is looking for houses with terrace or outside of the city, will rise.” Jimenez is optimistic in regards to the evolution of the real estate market, which “will have a recovery in V and will improve in the third quarter.”

For Bruno Sauer, director general of Green Building Council Spain, “the confinement has been put to the test our homes: their adaptability to host new activities and allow their coexistence with the usual in the same space; the need of ventilation to renew the air with the greatest frequency; the conditions of sound insulation between adjoining lands; to enjoy or to lack of views and outdoor space; the need for intimacy or, simply, the possibility of moving enough to keep the body physically fit.

And he states that this new situation “has put in evidence that, when the use of the urban spaces we are left banned, when the city disappears, and there remains the housing, having a dignified space in which to dwell is a basic need. is Space is decent in size, orientation, outdoor areas, ventilation, lighting, thermal comfort, and flexibility to adapt to temporal states; all of them aspects that define a sustainable housing “.

slop

Sauer points out that “this year the Covid-19 has surprised us in the spring, the station more user friendly in our climate. But, what will happen if you come in winter or in summer? We know that a large part of our park is built is not designed to hold the life of 24 hours in winter or summer. And makes it clear that a rehabilitation deep of our homes is the unfinished business of our country. “If we are not able to ask for another type of housing after this situation, the market will offer us the same product as before. The key to change is in our hands. The buyer of a new property has from today the obligation to require the promoters to comply with a new category: that of resistant “confinement” “, sentence.