Remote Work Didn't Lower House Prices, It Just Moved Them

Everyone predicted the same thing in 2020. If people could work from anywhere, city property prices would crash. Turns out? That's not what happened. Not in the UK. Not in Vietnam. Not anywhere the data shows.

Here's what actually occurred.

The Demand Didn't Disappear It Relocated

Remote work didn't reduce how much people could pay for housing. It just changed where they wanted to pay it.

High earners kept their London or New York salaries. They just started spending them in Cornwall, Lisbon, or Da Nang instead. That's not a housing affordability solution. It's a geographical wealth transfer.

Looking at The Office of National Statistics (ONS) data from 2019 to 2024, London price growth slowed to around 2-3% annually. But commuter towns like Sevenoaks, Bath, and York? They saw 8-12% annual increases. The money didn't vanish. It moved an hour down the train line.

And because the UK has some of the strictest planning laws in the developed world (hello, green belt), supply couldn't adjust. So prices in these "escape destinations" just kept rising. Remote work made more places expensive, not fewer.

Vietnam Shows the Same Pattern, Just Faster