Real Estate Developers Face a New Normal.

• Position: HOUSING MARKET

Real estate developers are facing new challenges in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, scrambling to reset their business models in the new normal. COVID-19 dramatically has shifted homebuyers' priorities, prompting real estate developers and related industries to place more emphasis on innovative design features that set new standards for ensuring their clients' health and wellness.

Just three months into the pandemic, shared spaces became out-of-date and even irresponsible; designers and developers have refocused on creating spaces that are private, virtual, distanced, and one's own.

"The market shifted quickly to be certain," says Alan McDonnell, chief planning officer at Valor Capital, Clearwater, Fla. "The buyers' priority lists became much more focused on their personal and family's well-being, so the idea of communities with amenities emphasizing large gatherings are no longer desirable.

Well-being is more than a way of life from now...