Australia Housing Market White Paper 2026: In-Depth Analysis Series | Week 10 — Work From Home: Flexibility is Reshaping Housing Choice

Following Week 9’s examination of internal migration and how population redistribution shifts housing pressure between regions, Week 10 turns to another hybrid driver influencing the location and characteristics of housing demand: the continued role of working from home. Drawing on Chapter 1 of the Australia Housing Market White Paper 2026, this article examines how the stabilisation of working-from-home arrangements can influence household preferences around location and lifestyle. Rather than creating additional housing demand, working from home changes how some households evaluate housing choices by reducing the relative importance of proximity to employment centres and altering spatial and qualitative housing preferences.