Housing preference shifting during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected various aspects of people's lives, including housing. Research has argued that the economic impact of the pandemic includes stagnancy in the real estate markets. Similarly, Indonesian real-estate market players have reported declining demand for high-rise and dense multi-unit residential buildings in favor of landed houses during the pandemic. However, it has not yet included customers' perspective analysis, which raises a question of whether there has been a change in preferences for the types of housing caused by the pandemic. This paper aims to provide a scientific discourse on the topic using the explanatory quantitative method. The research sampled over 380 respondents from real-estate customers in 2020. The data were analyzed using binary logistic regression calculations. The result suggests increases in the need to control living space affect respondents' housing preferences. Factors that affect this phenomenon include the fear of meeting people and the fear of recessions; which are the direct impacts of the pandemic.