Home Features Supporting Remote Work Popular in Listings

Although some employees have returned to the office since the pandemic, the demand for remote- and hybrid-work-ready home features is still high, according to Realtor.com.  

Realtor.com shared that nearly 40% of full-time workers spend at least part of their week at home, highlighting many  buyers’ needs for work-from-home home features. Top features that appeared in active listings included built-in coffee systems, smart lighting scenes and hardwired Ethernet/Cat6. 

Listings with the latter jumped 66.3% in 2025, with a median price of $497,340 for those homes. Ethernet is said to outperform Wi-Fi by a factor of as great as 10:1, making it an efficient choice for remote and hybrid workers. 

Another popular home feature last year was soundproofing, which jumped in listings by 62.1% year-over-year. Homes with soundproofing had a median list price of $825,000. And homes with dedicated offices/workspaces (or “Zoom rooms”) jumped 56.5%, landing at a median price of $514,990. 

With all the working from home (and, subsequently, fewer office perks), there’s also been more of a focus on wellness. Some wellness-specific home features that became more popular last year included: 

• Home gyms, appearing in 91% more listings year-over-year (median list price of $599,000) 
• Built-in coffee systems, rising in listings by 72.2% (median price of $916,778) 
• Smart lighting scenes that preconfigure specific settings, appearing in 70.1% more listings than the year previous (median price of $685,000) 
• Cold plunges, growing 61.6% since 2024 (median price of $1.8 million) 
• Pickleball courts, surging 52% since last year (median price of $594,995)