Return-to-office mandates are forcing homeowners to sell for a loss – or risk losing their jobs – experts warn

Return-to-office mandates are forcing Americans to choose between selling their home at a loss or losing their job, a new study shows.

According to real estate company RedfinAn increase in return-to-work policies is motivating one in ten homeowners to move.

Real estate agent Shauna Pendleton said she has a few clients who are selling their Boise, Idaho, home after just a year because their employers in Seattle require them to return to the office.

Because they bought the house when prices were near their peak, they will likely have to sell at a loss, she said.

“My salespeople both work for the same company, which told them they had to be in the office three days a week or they would lose their jobs. They have six months to make the move,” Pendleton said.

More and more companies are asking their employees to return to work in the office

“They’ll probably have to take a $100,000 loss on their house. Their new home in Seattle won’t be anywhere near the size of their home in Boise, and their mortgage interest rates will be much higher.”

The latest data from government-backed lender Freddie Mac shows that a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is now hovering around 7.18 percent.

A year ago, a 30-year fixed-rate contract averaged 6.02 percent.

With mortgage rates near their highest levels in more than two decades, not many people are selling their homes, meaning many of those who are selling are doing so out of necessity.

A recent Freddie Mac survey found that 82 percent of real estate buyers felt “trapped” in their property. And one in seven homeowners who have no intention of selling their home cite being stuck with a lower mortgage rate as the main reason for staying put.

And ffigures from Atlanta Federal Reserve show that affordability has fallen below levels at the peak of the housing bubble in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Homebuyers have faced the least affordable market since 2006, according to figures from the Atlanta Federal Reserve

The research comes at a time when more and more companies are pushing for their employees to return to the office – after working from home became the norm following the Covid-19 pandemic.

JP Morgan Chase & Co is instructing its managers to return to the office full-time to be present for “impromptu meetings” and “immediate feedback.”

Earlier this year, the company cracked down, asking executives to “lead by example” and return to the office five days a week.

“Our leaders play a critical role in strengthening our culture and running our businesses,” read a memo obtained by the Wall Street Journal at the time.

“They must be visible in the workplace, they must meet with customers, they must teach and advise, and they must always be accessible for direct feedback and impromptu meetings,” the report continued.

Other companies, including major New York law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, told employees that those who don’t adhere to the three-day-a-week policy could see their bonuses cut.

Last month, the CEO of videoconferencing giant Zoom wanted his employees to come in at least two days a week, telling staff at a company-wide meeting that they simply “can’t have a good conversation” through remote meetings alone.

JP Morgan Chase & Co directs its managers to return to the office full-time to be present for ‘impromptu meetings’ and ‘immediate feedback’

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan wants his employees to come in at least two days a week, telling staff they simply ‘can’t have a good conversation’ through remote meetings

Zoom, the San Jose tech company that has transformed work during the Covid-19 pandemic, has now mandated that every employee living within 50 miles of a Zoom office must be on-site at least 40 percent of the time clock in.

“You come up with great ideas all the time,” Zoom CEO Eric Yuan said at a company meeting in August, “but when we’re all on Zoom, it’s really hard.”

“We can’t debate each other well,” Yuan continued, “because everyone tends to be very friendly when you’re on a Zoom call.”