[Reporter: Jacqueline Hansen] This isn't the home this couple planned to buy just six months ago.
We were hunting a two-bedroom condo in core downtown
so we could just walk to our office every day.
[Reporter] Then the pandemic hit and they both started working remotely.
My meeting she could hear, she could get disturbed
and vice versa.
[Reporter] Their employers say they'll keep working from home most of the time
even after the pandemic.
So instead of a condo for the same price they bought a four bedroom house
outside of Toronto.
There is enough space.
We could just get up one day and decide to work from any part of the house.
Data from Realosophy shows sales of houses in the Greater Toronto area in August
jumped more than 50 percent from the same time last year.
Some of that is pent-up demand.
But it's still far higher than the pickup in sales of condos.
A lot of people are looking for more space and practically all of my clients are
nowadays working from home.
[Reporter] And according to ADP Canada, 45 percent of Canadians it surveyed
would keep it that way at least three days a week.
It seems remote work is here to stay.
Or at least the majority of us want it to be.
There's a willingness to have a discussion about a fundamental change in the way we work
and it calls into question everything that we've been doing for the last 30 years.
[Reporter] This commercial real estate broker expects demand for total office space
to drop by 25 percent or more.
I would venture to say that every company, every organization in the world
is suddenly reevaluating their need for space.
[Reporter] And forcing others into a difficult new reality.
If we don't have the core you know this office tower full and people coming down for lunch
then you know that's everything for us.
[Reporter] Sales at this Toronto restaurant are down 70 percent.
When the patio closes for the winter and if workers don't come back downtown...
We can't pay rent, we can't afford to pay a rent.
It feels scary to be honest with you, I'm very worried.
Worried a shift away from the city centre could also wipe out livelihoods
of those left behind.
Sorry.
Jacqueline Hansen CBC News, Toronto.