what people want in a home today

The rennie podcast is about the real estate market and the people connected by it. Tune in for monthly discussions making sense of the latest market data.

EPISODE #88: WHAT PEOPLE WANT IN A HOME TODAY

The latest Homes of Tomorrow research takes a closer look at how preferences are shifting as the market changes. Ryan Berlin (Chief Economist and Vice President of Intelligence) and Ryan Wyse (Lead Analyst and Market Intelligence Manager) are joined by Elaina Cowley (Senior Manager of Product Development ) to explore what buyers and renters are actually looking for right now.

From the rise of the end-user and the continued demand for homeownership to what matters most inside the home—like extra rooms versus extra room—this episode focuses on how real lifestyles are shaping real estate decisions. It’s a practical look at what should be built, and why the “build it and they will come” approach no longer holds. 

Featured guests:
Ryan Berlin, Chief Economist and Vice President of Intelligence
Ryan Wyse, Lead Analyst and Market Intelligence Manager              
Elaina Cowley, Senior Manager of Product Development 
                                                  
We’d love to answer your real estate questions. Email us at intel@rennie.com or leave a voicemail, and we’ll try to respond in future episodes. 

Transcript

For a long time we were in a market, just build it and somebody's gonna want it
It's all about kind of fitting the home to someone's existing lifestyle and not the other way around
What is the right type of home to be building?
68% of people still said if affordability was not an issue, they would be purchasing a home
The market today is all about end users
Yeah, and if you own a car, you have to have a place to park it, right
There's a base level of jobs that you'll never be able to work from home
Right. The older you get-
Absolutely.
... the sexier storage is, let me tell you. [laughs]
Yeah
Especially kitchen storage

Ryan Berlin: Welcome to the rennie Podcast. I'm Ryan Berlin, vice president of intelligence and chief economist here at rennie. Today we're diving into the results of a survey and some accompanying, uh, research that we've just wrapped up called homes of tomorrow, and that's where we look at how people actually wanna live from a tenure, housing type, and design perspective. Joining me, as always, is Ryan Wyse, our market intelligence manager and lead analyst on intel

Ryan Wyse: Thanks. You know, uh, I'm excited for this episode. It's a little bit different what we're doing today, and you know, so much has happened over the last couple years, and I think understanding what people want today instead of just, you know, what they had been looking for in homes is really important, so I'm excited to dive into the results of the survey

 Ryan Berlin: Absolutely, and we're gonna get into the nitty-gritty of everything in the survey in a moment. We have somebody here. We did not conduct the survey ourselves. We have somebody with us today who's gonna tell us all about the survey and what the survey is telling us. The person behind it, Elaina Cowley, rennie's senior product development manager. Welcome

Elaina Cowley: Thanks so much, Ryan. I'm really excited to be here

Ryan Berlin: Yeah, we're happy to have you here

Ryan Wyse: Mm

Ryan Berlin: Some people who are listening and watching know who you are. Not everyone does. So y- your title, I think, belies the, like, awesomeness of your job. So why don't you tell us a little bit about what you do every day here at rennie.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, absolutely. So I've been at rennie for about three and a half years now, and my job is really just everything product, so that's unit mixes, floor plans, amenities, features and finishes. I initially was part of sales and marketing. I was working really closely with them on, like, large scale project envisionings-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... and, and everything to do with product. And then I took a year off for mat leave. I was away for a lot of 2025, and as you guys know, when I came back, my role had really evolved quite a bit, and what I was doing was so closely intertwined with the intel team now, and especially when it comes to the Homes of Tomorrow survey. I'm working a lot more with the intel team, diving into the data quite a bit more. I think, as Ryan mentioned, what people are looking for in their homes is so incredibly important today as the market has shifted, and so, so much of my work is really just diving into those numbers, being able to back up the recommendations that we're making

Ryan Berlin: Yeah, it's super important because I feel like for a long time we were in a market where it was kind of like, you know, just build it and somebody's gonna want it

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah  

Ryan Berlin: And now, for a whole bunch of reasons, buyers, renters are more discerning. I mean, there's no- there are more options now, and I think the development community, if you will, is now sort of, you know, f- is, is having to look at delivering housing in a different way. It's, it's... And it's also not just what do people want and need now, but what is the right type of home to be building? Because we know these, you know, m- most of the time here we're talking about at times townhomes, but often it's towers. It might be low rise, might be high rise. These, these structures are gonna be around for 50, 60, 70 years, right? So about the Homes of Tomorrow survey, why don't you tell us a little bit... We're gonna, we're gonna get into the detail, but at a high level, what is it, why did you undertake it, and how are we using that information that we, that we've gleaned from it?

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, absolutely. So it really started in 2023. I joined rennie right at the start of 2023, and it was kind of something that I came to rennie with this idea for. Um, I was really drawn to rennie because of data. rennie is such a data-backed company. It's so important to everyone, and, you know, I'm preaching to the choir here-

Ryan Berlin: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: ... but I love data. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: Mm.  

Elaina Cowley: I think it's amazing. I think it's so interesting, and the work that I do day in and day out, I'm asked questions of developers that we have a lot of anecdotal information on from our sales floors and our leasing floors, but we didn't have the opportunity to back that up with any numbers-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... or any facts because it didn't exist. So we developed the survey throughout 2023, um, and at the end of the year in 2023 was the first time that we ran it. We ran it with respondents from Metro Vancouver, and it covered a variety of topics, so everything from whether you're owning your home or renting your home, whether you're intending to purchase a home or have purchased a home within the last three years, whether you're purchasing as a, um, primary residence or whether you're purchasing for investment-

Ryan Berlin: Mm

Elaina Cowley: ... what sorts of amenities and spaces matter most to you, what your lifestyle is, even asking people how much do you cook from home, how many pets do you have, things that are just part of people's everyday lives that are really gonna influence what they need in their home

Ryan Berlin: Yeah, and I just, I don't think we've been, we had been asking those questions-

Ryan Wyse: Mm.

Ryan Berlin: Right?

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: No one has

Ryan Berlin: I think it was like, it was... Yeah. We're, like, it was, it was... We all just kinda, like, fit our lifestyles and our preferences into, you know, what, what was available out there. And we've talked to advisors on this, on this podcast too who, who've said, you know, when the market was, the conditions were different and tighter, it's like you might be looking for a 10 out of 10. You might have to settle, settle for a six or a seven, right? And so what we're talking about here is using information so that we can deliver 10 out of 10 housing for more people

Ryan Wyse: Yeah. We're looking at a lot more than just size, price, location. It, to your point, like, it's all about kind of fitting the home to someone's existing lifestyle and not the other way around

Elaina Cowley: I think market conditions have changed a lot, and people are taking a lot more time to make their decisions. They're really looking at the home and how it's gonna suit them, how it's gonna suit their lifestyle. We also saw a pretty significant reduction in the investor activity in the survey-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm. Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... that was reflected in our numbers, and so we've got a lot of end user buyers. People aren't just necessarily buying for investment. They're buying for a home for themselves, and so they're seeing themselves in that space

Ryan Wyse: So off the top anything really surprising or anything that jumped out at you this time that maybe we haven't seen before?

Elaina Cowley: There are some really interesting findings. There were a couple of new questions this year, and we'll get into some of those really interesting things. But I would say overall, one of the general things that surprised us is that obviously market activity has slowed down a lot, but the interest and the desire for home- home ownership has not. So we ask everyone, um, who is not owning a home, "If affordability were not a factor, would you still purchase a home, or would you continue to rent?" Because we wanna understand what is the desire for home ownership out there. Are people renting out of necessity-

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... or are they renting out of choice? And overwhelmingly, 68% of people still said if affordability was not an issue, they would be purchasing a home. So while there are a lot of barriers to entry, there are a lot of challenges right now in our market, people really still wanna buy homes.

Ryan Berlin: Okay. Let's, uh, dive a bit deeper, and let's start by looking at, at buying intentions, the who's of real estate. So the survey did show a shift in the mix of people who are looking at real estate, l- looking to maybe make a move. Can you break down those demographics for us across the, the buyer set and the renter set?

Elaina Cowley: So even within the buyers, we actually break that down, uh, into whether people are purchasing as a primary residence or whether they're purchasing for investment. And then we also ask people whether they have purchased within the last three years or whether they're intending to purchase within the next three years. So that also allows us to break it down into past buyers or future buyers.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: So when we look at end user buyers as a whole, we saw that that was 49% of our respondents, and renters were 48% of our respondents, which was up quite significantly from 2023 when it was 35% of respondents. So quite a significant shift in terms of the demographics of renters. I will mention that we expanded the region of where our survey covered this time.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: So last time I mentioned we were doing Metro Vancouver respondents. This time we were also surveying those in Greater Victoria and Central Okanagan, and that may also result a little bit in the shift in demographics because we saw a lot of our respondents in the Greater Victoria area are renters.

Ryan Wyse: Which has been the case historically. Victoria's had a, a higher share of renters-

Ryan Berlin: Very high

Ryan Wyse:... going back decades, so.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, absolutely. So like I said, 49% end user buyers, 48% renters, and what that really means is that the investor segment has come down quite significantly. So it was only 3% of respondents were investor buyers.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: And in fact, only 1% of those were past investor buyers. So 2% said they may purchase for investment within the next three years, but only 1% actually said they have purchased for investment within the last three years.

Ryan Berlin: How much is that down versus when we did the survey last?

Elaina Cowley: Quite significantly. So our full respondent segment that was, uh, investors the last time was 8%, so from 8% down to 3% this time.

Ryan Berlin: That tracks with other data that we've looked at to sort of tell that story, the, the evolving story of, uh, investor participation, so not hugely surprising.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah. We've been talking about this for a while at, like, throughout the data, but this also tells us that, uh, investors aren't necessarily looking to purchase investment properties in the near term. So, you know, the market today is all about end users. So what are they telling us that they want to buy?

Elaina Cowley: Interestingly, it's, uh, largely townhomes actually. So 55% of respondents said that they were interested in purchasing a townhome, and 27% said that that would be a three-bed or a three-bed and den townhome. So a lot of interest in that, um, sort of middle product.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley:  Not necessarily the condo product, not necessarily the single family home, but that townhome product.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah. We call it the Goldilocks of housing. It kinda works for the, the young families upsizing, some of the downsizers. As a townhome occupant myself, I love it. But what's interesting, like you say, 55% of people want a townhome. Probably there's a bit of looking at trade-offs of affordability there. But on average, it's like one out of every five sales across the region is a townhome, and if you look at census data for housing stock, 29% of our housing stock is attached housing, so townhomes, multiplexes, things like that. So a lot more people want a townhome than we're necessarily delivering or have been, uh, historically across the region.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah. And I would expect that, you know, given the scarcity of land, the price tag associated with single family-

Ryan Wyse: Mm

Ryan Berlin: ... and some of the drawbacks of living in a condo, not for everyone, but as, you know, life evolves, right, and you have more people in your household, you're having kids, and as your needs change, yeah, it seems clear that, that there's an opportunity there in the, in the townhome space for, for that home type to, to grow in prominence. One thing the survey said people aren't really looking for, I think, is studios.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, absolutely. So only 5% of respondents said that they were interested in studios, which is down quite significantly as well from 2023. When we look at that lack of an investor buyer right now, that makes perfect sense. I can't think of too many people who are-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... an end user buyer who are-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... particularly saying, "I really wanna live in a studio," you know? So we're seeing that compact product really, really dropping in terms of popularity.

Ryan Wyse: We've also built a lot of studios already, so there's an existing pool for those renters who do need that more affordable, smaller home.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that, yeah. The, you know, for as, as far as purchasers are concerned, price point, I mean, we'll talk about it in a little bit, is a big deal-

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah

Ryan Berlin: ... obviously, for all of us. But yeah, I don't think the, the dream of home ownership was attached to, like, any home, right? Like, 350 square feet on the 18th floor, you know, facing east. I don't know. That's... Some people, that's gonna turn their crank, and, and it's gonna work for different reasons, but that isn't the definition of the dream of home ownership for, for many. And then that's impact... I mean, what we're seeing then at, uh, price point wise too in studios is that those values are coming down. So actually, on a price per square foot basis, we're seeing studio, new- newer studios especially transact below the larger one beds and the two beds because I think people, I don't know if they feel... I don't know if emboldened's the right word, but they just feel empowered maybe to sort of, you know, assert their preferences more in a market like this because there is more inventory. People want that space. Right, and the extra bedrooms, whether it's for their family now or, or, or because it's growing. So let's talk a bit about people's lifestyles and habits. Elaina, you said earlier that we- we've been designing buildings based on assumptions that we almost impose on them about how people live and, and what they're looking for. Maybe one example of that is that studio apartments, condos, these smaller homes tend not to come with a parking spot, right? For, for a whole bunch of reasons. There are cost reasons, but you know, I think part of that is the assumption of well, you know, maybe you're young and you ride a bike or you take transit.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah.

Ryan Berlin: But what we've found is that it, it's harder to sell not just smaller homes, especially in this market, but smaller homes without parking. So what did the data from the survey tell us about the whole situation around parking and maybe how it relates to transit?

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, so we asked respondents how many cars they have, and when we look at buyers in particular, car ownership is very, very high. So 92% of all purchasers have a car, and uh, 44% have two or more cars.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: So that's a really, really high number. And then I think some of the narrative around renters has been there's a lower, um, incidence of car ownership for renters, and that is true.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: But it's actually still a lot higher than people realize. So 67% of our renters still have at least one car, and they did when we were asking about what factors are going to influence their decisions the most, they did put a lot more influence, um, onto proximity to transit, but they're still owning these cars. They still need somewhere to park.

Ryan Wyse: We haven't seen that car ownership data historically, and what we've i- instead used is commuting data, and what we find is a lot of people own a car and take transit to work, and then use the car for the rest of their lifestyle. And this is where I think some of that disconnect comes from, is if you just look at the share of people who commute by transit every day, a lot of them still own a car.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, and if you own a car, you have to have a place to park it, right?

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: So seeing buildings with like a .3 parking ratio, there's gonna be a real disconnect between the number of stalls that are being provided and the number of cars that residents have. And so we're seeing this also, like on even our leasing floors where people are really opposed to renting homes that don't come with parking.

Ryan Berlin: Right.

Elaina Cowley: They still need somewhere to put that car.

Ryan Wyse: And for our listeners and viewers who don't work in development, a .3 parking ratio-

Ryan Berlin: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: ... is three parking spaces for every 10 homes. So three homes would have one parking space, seven would have zero.

Ryan Berlin: Excellent clarification.

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: Thank you. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: For projects that have not been built, that are still being designed and planned, that's really good information. I mean, there are many buildings out there that don't have a lot of parking and, but they're built. What can a developer do or what do we recommend in those scenarios, uh, where there isn't a lot of parking but we know, we, we really know now too that it's desired?

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, I think there are some approaches that we can take. One of them that's been really popular in recent years has been car share. Um, so providing spaces for car shares so that people-

Ryan Berlin: Mm

Elaina Cowley: ... can have access to that more readily. I think some people are also looking at even offsite parking, looking to other areas where they might be able to do some sort of partnership and, and align with a nearby parking lot or a parking garage that might not be in use quite as much. It's just really being creative and thinking about how are we going to make sure that people's lifestyles are being met.

 Ryan Berlin: So those solutions also are notably centered around giving people access to cars and not expanding the range of transportation options.

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Berlin: Which makes sense because you're not going to Costco on a scooter.

Elaina Cowley: No.

Ryan Berlin: So yeah, that, it's, it, it's, it's interesting information that's, that, that's coming out of the survey on that front.

Ryan Wyse: So the other thing that's been sort of a, a bigger topic the last few years is work from home. So we've seen some survey data nationally, but what did our respondents for the Homes of Tomorrow say about how often are they working from home, especially full-time versus hybrid? 'Cause I think those are two very different lifestyles.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, definitely. So this is one of the areas where we see quite a divide between our buyer data versus our renter data. So buyers, uh, 68% of buyers are working from home either hybrid or all the time. That breaks down to about 56% being hybrid and only 12% working remotely full-time.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: So again, full-time work from home is not super common, but working from home at least part of the week is very, very common. If we say 68% of buyers are working from home at least part of the week, that means only 32% are never working from home.

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: When we switch to the renter side, however, that is quite different. So 50% of our renters are never working from home, and so that makes us really stop and think, have we over-corrected?

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: There was so much work from home during the pandemic, post pandemic, and we all sort of went gung-ho on these co-working spaces and thinking they need to be in every single building, and the question really is, is that the best use of our space? Are people really taking advantage of that? Are they needing that, or do we need to rethink that?

Ryan Wyse: There's a base level of jobs that you'll never be able to work from home.

Ryan Berlin: Right.

Ryan Wyse: You know, you work in a hospital, in a school, at an airport. You have to go to work every day, like there's no, there's no remote option for, for a lot of jobs.

Elaina Cowley: No one's remotely doing surgery.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah, exactly.

Ryan Berlin: You could be working in-

Ryan Wyse: That would be impressive

Ryan Berlin: ... not yet, maybe.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: Yeah, really. But yeah, working in retail, construction, there's lots of those. I feel like there was some, like, we work related hysteria, uh, you know, around that whole working remotely, working together idea, which obviously the pa- it was a real thing early in the pandemic.

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Berlin: But now we're, we're settling back into... It's not necessarily like a pre-pandemic pattern of working because, like I don't have the data, but I would assume a very small percentage of people were working, uh, hybrid. That concept didn't exist for, for most people-

Ryan Wyse: Yeah

Ryan Berlin:... I don't think-

Elaina Cowley: Yeah

Ryan Berlin: ... you know, five, six years ago.

Ryan Wyse: But your, your hybrid needs, like if you're working from home one or two days a week, your needs for like your setup at home-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Ryan Wyse: ... is very different from someone full-time remote.

Ryan Berlin: Absolutely.

Elaina Cowley: Absolutely. Yeah.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah. So let's talk about, let's stay, stay in, in the home here. We ask people as part of the survey how much they are eating out, like not eating, not eating meals in their home. So my guess would be-That, like over time... Did we ask this question in 2023?

Elaina Cowley: We did, yeah.

Ryan Berlin: Okay. My guess would be that people are not eating at home a lot, and that that's increasing. That's my, that's my experience. It's driven by not having time, right?

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Berlin: And, or like... And I realize I got kids, I'm not the, you know, the, the prototypical demographic of somebody living in this re- region necessarily, but it's like kids activities, don't have time. We eat out a lot, more than I'd like to admit.

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: But I would kind of assume that that's the general trend. What did the survey say?

Elaina Cowley: So I'm with you. I've been eating out and getting takeout a lot more recently. Maybe not eating out, actually, getting a lot of takeout as a new parent. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: Right.

Elaina Cowley: Um, but the survey actually was the opposite. Um, so-

Ryan Berlin: Hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... from 2023 to 2025, cooking at home has actually increased amongst both buyers and renters from around 3 to 4%. So we're seeing people doing a lot more of their cooking at home, eating their meals at home, and I think this is probably associated with just a higher cost of living, higher cost of groceries. People are really looking for where they can cut back on their spending.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

 Elaina Cowley: And discretionary spending, they're looking at takeout, they're looking at eating out at restaurants and, and that's definitely being cut back.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah, like we went through a period of inflation where, you know, we've been talking about inflation being under control for the past two years, but price level is still a lot higher. And if you carve up the CPI and you look specifically to BC, in the last two years, so since 2023, inflation across BC is up 8% over, I guess to, to now, so call it two and a half years roughly.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Wyse: Food inflation's up more, and food from restaurants is up even more than that. So there's been-

Ryan Berlin: Restaurants are so expensive.

 Elaina Cowley: So expensive these days.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah. Well, and, and the, the takeout apps too, if, if you're using-

Ryan Berlin: Oh, yeah

Ryan Wyse: ... the apps, it's, it's that much more expensive. So it is an easy, an easier way to cut back on your expenses. Cooking is cheaper than getting takeout or going to restaurants.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: Absolutely. And so that really brings us to kitchen design-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... and making sure that we're not just having these kitchens be sort of secondary spaces. I think a lot of times we think about condo kitchens as being, oh, people are just getting their takeout and they're heating up their food, and that's all that's happening, but people are really actively cooking. I think a lot of people also found cooking to be a hobby or something that they enjoy during the pandemic when they were forced to do a lot more of it.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: And that's really changed how people are looking at their kitchens as well.

Ryan Berlin: I feel like wasn't there a trend recently, or at least like there was, there were conversations, maybe it was, it was part of, you know, asking the question, how do we keep the, the, the, the price of building down and the price of homes down? Wasn't there like a trend where it was like, let's get, maybe get rid of kitchens as we've known them-

Elaina Cowley: So-

Ryan Berlin: ... in new builds?

Elaina Cowley: I think they've gotten a lot smaller. We've done a lot of, we've seen a lot of just linear lines of kitchens where it's just a single wall of, you know, basic appliances, a few cupboards-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... not that much storage. Looking at really small appliances as well. We've got this whole range of apartment sized appliances. And for really compact homes, that's really efficient, and for people who are maybe not going to be there for a, a large chunk of their day and they aren't doing a lot of cooking, that can be really helpful. But again, we're seeing these compact homes are not really what people are looking for right now. People are looking for homes that they can live in, ones that are really functional for them.

 Ryan Berlin: Right.

Elaina Cowley: And so I think we need to-

Ryan Wyse: And maybe host more than one or two other people, like yeah. [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, absolutely.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: And be able to-

Ryan Berlin: You wanna come over?

Elaina Cowley: ... you know, have more than one pot and one pan-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... that they're cooking in. So I think we really need to consider what is a functional kitchen that fits within a condo where we know that space is at a premium, but is still offering the utility that people need.

Ryan Wyse: Totally.

Ryan Berlin: On this topic of what people want in their home or what they're looking for in a home, location and price I imagine are big influences. I think that's probably where the conversation starts for almost all of us.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah.

Ryan Berlin: In fact, it'd be so odd if that wasn't a part of your initial decision-making.

Elaina Cowley: [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: But after that, and I assume that's gra- after that, w- you know, what are the things that people care about?

Elaina Cowley: Yeah. So 97% of people say that price is the most important factor when they're looking at a home, whether they're gonna purchase it or rent it. I don't know what the other 3% of the people are doing for a living. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: But 97% of people say that that's-

 Ryan Wyse: I wouldn't mind their bank account.

Elaina Cowley: [laughs] That's their main fo- But yeah, putting that aside, price and location being the top two things. Beyond that, it really is, like we just said about kitchens, uh, storage space is really top of mind for a lot of people.

Ryan Berlin: Oh, yeah.

Ryan Wyse: Oh, yeah.

Elaina Cowley: Especially renters. Yeah, especially.

Ryan Berlin: The older you get-

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: ... the sexier storage is, let me tell you. [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: Yeah. Especially kitchen storage.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, absolutely. Kitchen storage-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... closet storage too is a really big thing.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: So, um, those are two of the big spaces. And then outdoor space is also really important, and we can see this also when we break it down by age groups. Certain age groups are really prioritizing storage. Some certain age groups are really prioritizing outdoor space. But overall, those are sort of the three areas that resonate the most with people.

Ryan Berlin: Right.

Ryan Wyse: So within the kitchen, I am a big fan of kitchen islands. I know there's-

Ryan Berlin: Same

Ryan Wyse:... there's a discourse there.

Elaina Cowley: Me too.

Ryan Wyse: I love a big kitchen island, especially with stools on the back. Uh, a lot happens in our kitchen where someone's cooking dinner, kids are doing homework, like all that kind of stuff. What did the responses tell us about kitchen islands? Am I in the minority or not?

 Elaina Cowley: You are not.

Ryan Wyse: Good.

Elaina Cowley: So this is a perennial debate. [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: Congratulations.

Ryan Wyse: Yes.

Elaina Cowley: You are in the majority.

Ryan Wyse: Great.

Elaina Cowley: Um, 60% of people said that they would prefer to have a kitchen island with stools.

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: And this is particularly important when we think about condo product. Again, we know that these small spaces, we're seeing a lot of homes designed with like an L-shaped kitchen that has just this open space for a dining table.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: And the thought is that it allows people to sort of have more flexibility and, and organize their home how they want to, whether they're putting a dining table there, whether they're putting in their own sort of movable temporary island. But overall, people are still in favor of an island, so 60% of people would rather have that. I think it's also when we think about how people are gathering these days, we have a lot less sort of formal sit down dinner parties. We have a lot of just sort of congregation, and the island is always the place for that.

Ryan Berlin: Got it.

Ryan Wyse: And it's great for storage too.

Elaina Cowley: That's absolutely true. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: With an island, storage.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah, yeah.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah. Uh, storage is a hot topic.

Ryan Berlin: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: So we could actually talk about that just a little bit if we want. So one of the questions that we asked people is, would you rather have a, an en suite that has dual vanities, so two sinks in your en suite, or would you rather that space be put towards the bedroom closet? So just really asking people some of these either/ors. When we're trying to make planning decisions about space and when we're saying, well, do, you know, do people want to have two sinks or do they wanna have more storage-

Ryan Berlin: Trade-offs

Elaina Cowley: Trade-offs, yes. So either/ors, would you rather?

Ryan Berlin: Would you rather section of the survey [laughs] was my favorite part.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah. So one of the questions that we ask people is would you rather have a-

Ryan Wyse: Should we all answer?

Elaina Cowley: Would you ra- yes.

Ryan Wyse: Okay.

Elaina Cowley: Let's all answer.

Ryan Wyse: Okay. All right.

Elaina Cowley: Would you rather have more space in your closet, a larger closet in your bedroom, or would you rather have a dual vanity in your en suite, so two sinks in your en suite?

Ryan Wyse: Closet.

Ryan Berlin: Oh, yeah. I... the dual vanity. There are some times now, we don't have that now, and we got, like, four people in our household that wanna use the bathroom. It's kind of annoying, but what's really annoying is not having enough closet storage.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah.

Ryan Berlin: I've lived in homes where I've got, like, a rack out in the room with hangers on it.

Ryan Wyse: Mm. Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah.

Ryan Berlin: Not fun.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah. No, absolutely. And, uh, 69% of people would agree with you. Uh, so 69% of people want more space in the closet. I think, in reality, the dual sink, it's a nice to have, but I mean, if you've got a, a good relationship where you can compromise [laughs] with the person you're sharing a bathroom with-

Ryan Wyse: Brush your teeth at the same time. Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... yeah, just make it a routine.

Ryan Berlin: Well, the other thing is-

Elaina Cowley: It's fun

Ryan Berlin: ... I have a friend who, uh, you know, bought a condo in Kits years ago, like 20 years ago. It's a one-bedroom. He lived alone, and he had two sinks. So he just... he would roll face cloths and, like, set them up in sort of an aesthetically pleasing way-

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: ... in, like, the second sink. 'Cause he's like, "I don't know what to do with this sink," right? Like, it was kind of a weird move, but as a single person living in a one-bed, he, he didn't need that. And obviously no one asked him.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, apparently not. People need space for the, the clothes they have. A closet is also gonna be probably where you're storing linen, where you're storing bedding, all of those sorts of things.

Ryan Berlin: Mm.

Elaina Cowley: I mean, his solution was to store his linen in the second sink. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: But for most people-  I think having that closet space is gonna be really important, and this is actually even more important when we look at renters. So 76% of renters said that that was their preference as well, to have more space in the closet.

Ryan Berlin: Okay. What's the next would you rather question for us?

Elaina Cowley: The next question is a little bit different. We framed it differently. We asked people, "Out of these four organizational features, what would you rather have?"

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley:  So one was kitchen drawer organizers for your utensils, one was closet organizers, one was an entry niche, so a little drop zone for your keys and your mail and that sort of thing. I'm personally always losing my keys, so [laughs] that's, that's a, a real one for me. Or a medicine cabinet in the bathroom. And the one that won out overall for people-

Ryan Berlin: Mm

Elaina Cowley: ... was built-in closet organizers.

Ryan Berlin: Yes. [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: Is that your preference?

Ryan Berlin: That's what I would've said.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: Wyse, what about you?

Ryan Wyse: Yeah, probably the same, but kitchen close behind-

Elaina Cowley: Yeah

Ryan Wyse: ... then niche, medicine cabinet being last.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, so and that was really-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... interesting as well, is that overall, those closet organizers won out. But when we look specifically at renters, 21% of them said that medicine cabinet was their preferred feature.

Ryan Berlin: Mm.

Elaina Cowley: And that's a really inexpensive solution to be able to provide them with more storage. So 9% of buyers said that that was their preferred. It was actually the, the lowest ranking one for them. 21% of renters said medicine cabinet wins out.

Ryan Berlin: Mm.

Elaina Cowley: So clearly-

Ryan Berlin: Fascinating

Elaina Cowley:

... a really, really strong drive towards these thoughtful small inclusions of storage spaces for renters.

Ryan Berlin: You also asked about, uh, trading off space in the bedroom versus the living room.

Elaina Cowley: So that was one of the questions that we asked, uh, both in 2023 and again in 2025.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: It's been pretty consistent. 71% of people said that they would prefer to have more space in the living room. So I think that makes sense. We'd all love to have a larger bedroom, I'm sure, and have... uh, my dream is to have a little stool at the end of my bed. That's when I know I'll have made it-

Ryan Berlin: [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: ... is when I can have a little place for my blanket to go at the end of my bed. But when you're making trade-offs-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... living room space is gonna win out.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Ryan Wyse:  So one more that I have strong opinions on myself, uh, is the, either the inboard den or the flex space, the no window extra room. That's probably a workspace for a lot of people, versus the larger living room. So I'm Team Larger Living Room. Uh, what, what did the results say?

Elaina Cowley: Overwhelmingly, people are also Team Living Room. So 84% of people said that they would much rather have more space in the living room to just have that flexibility to lay out the space how they want to-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... as opposed to having an enclosed inboard den. And I think that makes sense. We do look at those spaces as potential working spaces. But I think some people would rather just have a desk off to the side in their living room, have more access to natural light, have just kind of a more enjoyable area to be spending their day if they're working from home. I think as long as we're making sure that we have enough storage for people, those enclosed dens are really not actually giving them the utility that we think they are.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah. You know, there was a time when I lived in a small apartment, almost big by today's standard. It was 590 square feet. It was a one-bed. And we had this inboard den. And I actually was attracted to it at the time 'cause I was like, "Oh, sweet, there's a, a, an enclosed space where we can work." And that was a time of, like, most people, if you had a computer at home, it was a desktop, right?

Ryan Wyse: Mm-hmm.

Ryan Berlin: It's like this big clunky setup, and so it was like, "Yeah, I don't want that on display." And I liked the idea of like, okay, if I wanted to, I can close the door and have a dedicated workspace. No window. We had the cat's litter box in there, too.

Ryan Wyse: Yeah.

Ryan Berlin: Like, I never wanted to be in there, right? But the way people work today is they're very mobile. Sometimes you got, you got Netflix on in the background. Like, you definitely want the natural light, so it makes sense that... when we don't know going back, you know, 20 years how those views have evolved, but I imagine that they have on how people want that space delimited in light of how they think they're gonna use it.

Ryan Wyse: And we said earlier that most people aren't working from home full time. So if you're only working from home-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Ryan Wyse: ... a little bit at a time, you want that space for other things, too.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah, absolutely. And, and that allows a lot more flexibility. If you're dedicating this one space to work from home, it's really not working for you the majority of the week-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... if you're not actually fully remote.

Ryan Berlin: So finally, let's talk about amenities. Most, not all, but most buildings come with some set of amenities, uh, shared spaces with different functions that, that occupants, owners, renters can use. You hear about the ones that are kind of, like, a bit off the wall, like the bowling alleys, movie theaters. Although those theater rooms are actually, like, fairly common, I would say. But what are buyers and renters actually looking for, right? This is really important.

Elaina Cowley:  Absolutely. So this was consistent, again, from 2023 to 2025. Number one amenity was the gym. Everybody wants a gym. It's actually, like, really... it's, it's not even a competition. Gym is number one. Everything else is significantly below.

Ryan Berlin: Is that aspirational?

Ryan Wyse: [laughs]

Elaina Cowley: [laughs]

Ryan Wyse: It's, yeah. I mean, it's, it's a combination of money savings and time saving, right? You can just go downstairs and work out. You don't have to walk or drive to the gym, in theory.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah. I mean, if it's not there, you're not gonna use it. And I guess the idea is... I mean, I've been there, too. I was like, "Oh, yeah, there's a gym, great." And I would go once a month. [laughs] But I, but when I was there, I was appreciative that it was there Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: Absolutely. But I think if you, again, cost of living is so high, and if you think about looking at your rent payments or your mortgage payments, and you're trying to factor all of the things into it

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... you have a gym there, you can go, "Oh yeah, that's, that's one box that's already ticked off. I don't have to worry about that."

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm. Right. What else beyond a gym?

Elaina Cowley: So unfortunately, the, you know, the fun golf simulators, the bowling alleys, the cool things that we've been seeing emerging right now

Ryan Berlin: Mm

Elaina Cowley: ... they just aren't really hitting with people in the way that-

Ryan Berlin: Mm

Elaina Cowley: ... sort of basic amenities are. So what was really interesting was that this time around, and especially for renters, we see this sort of desire for a best of the basics approach. So gym, number one, entertaining spaces, outdoor spaces, those are really the things that people are looking for. Now, a pool has always ranked very highly. Again, people don't necessarily actually need a pool or [laughs] use a pool.

Ryan Berlin:

I would imagine renters would be more on board with a pool than owners, because you just see the dollar signs- Yeah ... if you're an owner.

 Elaina Cowley: Absolutely.

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: Yeah. And I think it, it's something aspirational for a lot of us, and it's one of those things that you see on a tour, and you think, "Oh yeah, I'm gonna use that so much."

Ryan Berlin: Yeah.

Elaina Cowley: I lived in Chinatown in an apartment for a little while, and there was a, a pool there, and I was so excited. I think I went twice.

Ryan Berlin:

When you're an adult and you're not doing lane swimming- [laughs] Yeah ... what are you doing?

Elaina Cowley: Just frolicking in the water. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: Yeah. Right. It's like, yeah, we want to be using the pools the way we, we did when we were kids, but the reality is we don't.

Elaina Cowley: But what is really interesting too is we can look at other wet amenities that are also kind of attractive to people.

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm.

Elaina Cowley: So things like hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas-

Ryan Berlin: Yeah

Elaina Cowley: ... those are really important to people as well, and I think they have that same sort of wellness element, and they give people that same sort of idea of like having this spa that's-

Ryan Berlin: Mm-hmm

Elaina Cowley: ... accessible in their home. But it's not that significant investment that's then going to be impacting their costs at the end of the day.

Ryan Wyse: So fewer niche amenities.

Elaina Cowley: Fewer niche amenities.

Ryan Wyse: More niches.

 Elaina Cowley: More entry niches. [laughs]

 Ryan Berlin: [laughs] Yeah. That's, that's- Back to basic, back to boring, right? Yeah. Like, people want function.

Elaina Cowley: Absolutely, but I don't think it has to be boring, and I think that's-

Ryan Berlin: Mm

Elaina Cowley: ... our real challenge moving forward, is that if we're saying a gym is the number one amenity, what can you do with a gym that actually meets what people are looking for?

Ryan Berlin: Right.

Elaina Cowley: And how can you make that space somewhere that people wanna spend their time, right? We've seen developers trying out new things like putting in a heavy bag for people to do boxing, putting in-

Ryan Berlin: Mm

Elaina Cowley: ... turf to be able to do sort of more like sled pulls, and all of those sorts of things. So it doesn't need to just be a set of cable machines and some dumbbells and a bench and some treadmills. You know, we can do something that's a little bit more interesting and is really going to be attractive to people.

Ryan Berlin: Awesome. Well, this was a very different episode for Ryan and I to be a part of. I really enjoyed it because the information... The focus of this, the information that we're discussing is just, is so different from just looking at the market and how, how it's moving. It's really getting down to people. Ultimately, real estate comes down to people. There's just a ton of really practical, actionable information coming out of this survey. Elaina thanks for joining us today.

Elaina Cowley: Thank you so much. It was so fun to be here and get into the, the nerdy data about product. [laughs]

Ryan Berlin: [laughs] Well, you came to the right place. You did. If you're watching this episode on YouTube, there's a link in the description to a white paper that gives a really comprehensive overview of all of the data in the Homes of Tomorrow survey that we discussed today, and more. So you can check that out. If you're listening, you can go to rennie.com/intelligence and check that report out there.

[upbeat music] Thank you for joining us on the Rennie Podcast. If you'd like to learn more or to subscribe to intelligence updates, go to rennie.com/intelligence. [upbeat music]