One of the most common ways employers have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic has been to establish ways for employees to work from home, thus keeping people separated and minimizing the chances for the disease to spread. Such arrangements have had their challenges—employees are often balancing their work with child care—but they also have benefits as well, such as increased flexibility and the elimination of a stressful commute.

A new survey by the real estate site Zillow finds that most respondents who have been working from home would like to have the ability to continue this arrangement at least part of the time. Zillow says that if employers agree to increased work-from-home opportunities, it could spur more migration to secondary cities and suburbs as proximity to a workplace becomes a less important consideration in home choice.

The survey, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Zillow, was conducted between May 4 and 6. It collected 2,065 responses from people who have retained employment during the pandemic.

Fifty-six percent of respondents said they have had the opportunity to work from home. Three out of four said they would prefer to continue this arrangement for at least half of their working hours, if given the option after the end of the pandemic.

The share of workers trying a work-from-home arrangement was considerably higher than before the pandemic. According to the Pew Research Center, just 7 percent of civilian workers in the United States had the benefit of being able to work from home before COVID-19, even though 40 percent worked in positions that could potentially be done remotely.

Two-thirds of the Zillow survey respondents working from home due to the pandemic said they would be at least somewhat likely to consider moving to a new residence if they had more flexibility in working from home. Overall, just 24 percent of Americans said they had thought about moving as a result of spending more time at home due to social distancing protocols.

Among those who said they would be likely to consider moving, 31 percent said they would want to find a home with a dedicated office space. Thirty percent said they would look for a larger home, while 29 percent said they would seek out a home with more rooms.

Zillow also noted that while 46 percent of households in the United States have a spare room that could be used as a home office, the share dropped by more than 10 percentage points in expensive coastal metro areas such as New York City and the San Francisco Bay area. If given the opportunity to work more of their hours remotely, home shoppers would have the option of searching for properties located farther outside the city limits.

"Moving away from the central core has traditionally offered affordability at the cost of your time and gas money," said Skylar Olsen, senior principal economist at Zillow. "Relaxing those costs by working remotely could mean more households choose those larger homes farther out, easing price pressure on urban and inner suburban areas."

Olsen said this trend would likely not result in a considerable increase in people moving to rural properties. Instead, it would favor suburban communities and smaller cities, since homeowners could benefit from larger homes and lots while staying reasonably close to urban benefits such as restaurants, shops, and businesses.

The survey also found that people were willing to consider a longer commute if they would have to do it less frequently. While previous Zillow research determined that the average person considering a new home or job wanted to cap their one-way commute at 30 minutes, half of the respondents in the more recent survey said they would be open to a commute of 45 minutes or more if they could work from home regularly.