The America at Home Study released results from its third survey earlier this year. The results included hard data about changing consumer perceptions of home in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Architect Nancy Keenan, President and CEO of DAHLIN Architecture | Planning | Interiors, partnered with a marketing expert, a consumer strategist, and additional firms to create the study.

The findings from the first two surveys (or waves) were released in June 2020 and December 2020. The results from the America at Home Study's first post-pandemic survey, which took place in October 2022, shows how living behaviors and needs have shifted over the past two years. The third wave uncovered new understandings about the well-being of Americans and how personal wellness influences lifestyle and home preferences. People are significantly less satisfied with their well-being across multiple dimensions, suggesting there is a more critical role for homes to play in well-being.

The results of the second wave, which took place in October 2020, showed a 17% gap between the importance of physical wellness and the stated satisfaction respondents felt in terms of physical wellness. That gap jumped to 34% in the third wave, two years later. The importance-satisfaction gap grew for both financial wellness (from 21% to 32%) and emotional wellness (from 16% to 24%). For all respondents, the importance of all areas of well-being has increased since 2020. In the most recent survey, emotional well-being was regarded as the most important area overall (89%, up from 83%), followed by financial well-being (86%, up from 83%), mental health (85%, up from 80%), and physical health/fitness (83%, up from 76%).

The importance of emotional well-being was reflected in people's hopes for their futures as well. When asked what they were most hopeful for, respondents selected "immediate family" (62%), followed by "a better, healthier me" (39%), and "my home" (34%). Respondents ranked the family room (46%), primary bedroom (19%), and kitchen (18%) as the most important rooms. Their biggest concerns were inflation (62%), the economy/jobs (36%), and climate change (31%). Home attributes that were important to their wellness included a private outdoor space or garden (67%) and energy conservation (65%), followed by water conservation (54%), eliminating chemicals such as volatile organic compounds (54%), low-energy windows (52%), and a home that minimizes impact on the environment (46%). These features, in addition to the most important rooms, embody what home really means to consumers: a place that provides comfort, security, relaxation, and a gathering space for family that is also linked to respondents' feelings about improving their personal health and wellness.

"We've already shown that Americans have strong opinions about what they want in a new home, but the insights from wave three brought underlying wellness considerations to the surface, helping us see the strong relationship between personal well-being and what we want from our physical environments," according to Keenan. "With the overarching desire for better wellness, the lasting reality of lifestyle changes including hybrid work, and the stated importance of home, this creates an abundance of new home design opportunities. The struggle for both shared and individual spaces that work for multiple purposes should guide builders, architects, developers, and other home professionals as we plan new ways of living in the future."

DAHLIN Architecture | Planning | Interiors is a diverse architecture, planning, and interiors practice of more than 180 multicultural professionals. Those professionals share "a passion for place," according to the firm, which has been a Hacienda tenant since 2004. DAHLIN works with developers, municipalities, and private clients, focusing on numerous sectors including homebuilding, multifamily and mixed-use, affordable housing, senior living, commercial, civic, education, healthcare, and interiors.

For more information about DAHLIN Architecture | Planning | Interiors, please visit www.dahlingroup.com.