Will Remote Work Drive a New Wave of Suburbanisation in Poland? Analysing the Relocation Preferences of Polish Office Employees

Abstract

This study assesses how the growing availability of working from home (WFH) shapes office employees' preferences to move to the suburbs and pinpoints the socio-economic factors that drive those intentions. We focus on Poland, where the housing market is shaped by exceptionally high home-ownership rates and specific suburbanisation patterns. We surveyed city-dwelling office employees (living in municipalities of 100,000 or more) to gauge their willingness to relocate. Logistic-regression estimates then linked those intentions to respondents' demographics, job attributes, commuting patterns, and self-reported productivity shifts under WFH. The study tests three mechanisms. Commuting cost is proxied by travel mode and one-way time; life-course triggers by age, children, and tenure; and job-demands/resources by self-rated productivity under WFH. Sector and city size serve as contextual controls. Linking variables to theory in this way clarifies how the forthcoming results adjudicate among competing explanations. The results indicate that age, commuting mode, self-assessed productivity changes, and employment sector (private versus public) markedly influence the likelihood of considering a move to the suburbs in response to remote-work options. Contrary to expectations, household size, measured by number of children, does not play a significant role. Overall, the evidence suggests that remote work, especially in hybrid form, could become an additional catalyst for suburban expansion in markets characterised by scarce affordable rentals and a strong preference for home ownership, such as Poland.