All that demand is not necessarily being driven by a desire to stay fit or a passion for the sport, though.

“It’s a great space for kids to play and to put a marquee in the future for 21st and 40th birthdays,” said Adam Ross, who specializes in Sydney luxury sales for Knight Frank. “It’s a future-proof investment.”

‘Indoor-Outdoor’ Rooms
It’s not only the actual outdoors that have become more important for wealthy house hunters.

Anna Czarnowska of Morpheus London, a high-end residential and hospitality design firm, says demand is rising for indoor spaces that have an outdoorsy vibe.

The most common request during lockdown was for multifunctional space and “biophilic designs”—an approach that attempts to incorporate nature into the built environment, according to Czarnowska. Her team used such principles when building a garden room for a penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront in London. They see the trend continuing beyond the pandemic.

“Even if we are going to go back to normal, I think the fear of these things happening again will remain with us for a long time,” Czarnowska  said. “So everybody would like to have a home that is multifunctional.”

Rickesh Patel, design director at Morpheus, says he is also continuing to see clients ask for such “indoor-outdoor” spaces, particularly in London where garden space comes at a premium. High-end buyers, he says, have been willing to make sacrifices for that outdoorsy vibe. One client who wanted to maximize light coming in from the outside was willing to lose around 150,000 pounds ($206,600) worth of square footage to make space for a big light shaft, Patel said.

All the Toys
With so much more time at home, what’s inside has grown in importance. At the practical level, that means his-and-her studies (not just sinks) are increasingly in demand, says Harri Williams-Jones, a super-prime residential development consultant for Savills London.

It doesn’t stop there. Wealthy shoppers are also seeking amenities such as gaming facilities in cinema rooms for teenagers and private spas.

“The pandemic has just catalyzed the trends that were already emerging ,” said Williams-Jones. “It’s not necessarily an absolute paradigm shift, but it’s just put more of a focus on people’s lifestyles.”