Early-pandemic repricing of housing attributes: evidence from Middlesex County, Boston suburbs

This paper examines how the abrupt shift to remote work during the early COVID-19 period changed the implicit prices of housing attributes in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, a suburban region adjacent to Boston. Using nearly 40,000 single-family home sales from 2017 to 2021, I estimate a hedonic price model in a difference-in-differences framework, comparing inner suburbs, outer suburbs, and exurbs before and after the pandemic’s onset. I find that outer suburban and exurban home prices appreciated significantly more than those in the inner suburbs. In the outer suburbs, price premiums for proximity to railway stations and garages declined, suggesting that homebuyers anticipated less frequent commuting. Conversely, price premiums for features supporting remote work, such as additional bathrooms, increased across all regions, with home offices, outdoor spaces, and extra bedrooms particularly valued in the inner suburbs. These findings provide novel evidence of an early-pandemic revaluation of home values by shifts in work arrangements and locational preferences. The study contributes to asset pricing literature by showing how macroeconomic shocks and behavioral shifts drive real estate revaluation, offering insights for investors and policymakers.