It’s All About The Home Office

Dining rooms and conservatories are falling out of fashion, while orangeries and garden offices have become more popular amongst homeowners, reports Abode2 luxury property magazine.

Garden offices, orangeries, summer houses, underfloor heating, bi-fold doors and open plan rooms have all surged in popularity, while conservatories, greenhouses, dining rooms, fitted wardrobes appear to be on the decline.

Garden offices are mentioned in industry property listings 11 times more often now than in 2012 (+1046%), suggests recent research. Bi-fold doors are second on the list, up by a huge 589% compared with ten years ago, followed by orangeries, which have fewer windows than conservatories (+173%) and underfloor heating (+114%). Summer houses are in, up by 90%, while greenhouses appear to be on the way out, down by 46%.

Mentions of electric car charging points have leapt six-fold within the last year (+495%).

The findings suggest homeowners could be ditching separate dining rooms for more modern open plan options with dining rooms being mentioned in property adverts down by 28%, while mentions of open-plan rooms are up 74% – suggesting that the decline of the dining room may also be down to more people converting this room into a home office.