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What do surging home prices mean for your business in 2022?

Posted by Shivali Anand

March 25, 2022    |     2-minute read (356 words)

The American housing market had a scorching year in 2021, with home values seemingly rocketing by the day all around the country. Some 20 U.S. cities saw double-digit price increases year over year.

According to a CNBC report, Phoenix and Miami posted annual price increases of 32.3% and 25.7%, respectively, in 2021. And LinkedIn reports that home prices in Austin, Texas, and Boise, Idaho, increased by more than 40% year over year.

Although the Federal Reserve boosted interest rates in mid-March, many economists predict that high home prices will persist in 2022, owing to a low inventory of available homes and the growing adoption of remote work. 

To stay competitive in today’s hot job and housing markets, businesses can adapt the three strategies described below.

  1. Accept a culture that favors remote work.

Many jobs once considered impossible to perform outside of a traditional office now appear feasible with a remote or hybrid work setup. That means housing expenses could factor into remote employees’ decisions to choose a more affordable home that is farther from the workplace. Building a business culture that supports remote work can help keep employees happy and productive while attracting talent from a wider pool.

  1. To stay competitive, fine-tune remuneration.

According to a Conference Board report, businesses in the United States have allocated more money for pay increases than at any time since 2008, with an average of 3.9% of total payroll put aside for salary hikes in 2022. Meanwhile, executive recruiting agency Burtch Works reports that the average wage increase for high-demand specialists such as data scientists and data engineers who switched positions in 2021 was an eye-popping 20%.

Rising housing prices will exacerbate salary growth, so firms trying to recruit or retain talent should be aggressive in collecting wage information and making competitive offers.

  1. Choose your business venues cautiously.

Your ability to attract talent is likely to be determined at least in part by the location of your business’s headquarters or sites where work cannot be done remotely. Once you weigh the relative costs of housing around the U.S., you may make different choices.

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