Millions of people have been working from home for the past decade. But in the wake of the COVID-19 shutdowns, these numbers are expected to jump exponentially. And the ramifications will be felt in some significant ways.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, roughly 7% of U.S. workers had the option of regularly working from home full time — a sizable chunk, but still a definite minority.

During this pandemic, as many as 66% of employees are working from home. Of this group, 44% are working remotely five days or more more per week. And even after COVIDI-19 is neutralized and life resumes to normal, experts are projecting that remote work will continue to see huge lift.

According to Global Workplace Analytics, which continually tracks the data and trends, 25 to 30 percent of the workforce will be working from home multiple days per week by the end of 2021. This increase will be driven by increased demand from remote employees, reduced fear about working from home among managers and executives, increased awareness of the cost-savings of remote work, increased pressure for disaster preparedness, and additional awareness of the impact of work-from-home sustainability.

As a result of this long-term movement, experts in various industries are anticipating some key shifts in business and real estate. Here are a few of them:

Rise of coworking spaces. In the short-term, coworking spaces have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 virus as much as anyone. Most have been forced to shut down and many have been vacant for months. But as we (hopefully) see things improve, it’s likely that co-working spaces will come back stronger than ever.

Coworking spaces provide a place for people to work — particularly those who can’t work from home and/or don’t have the necessary resources to do so. Coworking spaces like Novel Coworking come with high speed Internet, printers, office supplies, and other amenities that some home offices don’t have.

Expenses are essentially shared by the members, which allows remote workers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs to access resources that would otherwise cost too much to obtain individually.

Diminished value of office space. Experts in the real estate industry and are quick to zero in on the notion that COVID-19 could fundamentally change the face of commercial real estate — particularly the value of office space.

With millions of people shifting to remote work — either working from home or in a coworking space — there won’t be as much need for large corporate offices. Over the years, it’s entirely possible that we could see real estate reimagined with more residential apartments and housing.

Changes in residential real estate. Another interesting consideration is how the shift to remote work will change residential real estate. If people are able to work remotely, they’re no longer tied down to one city. Why would someone making $50k per year stay in Manhattan when he could move to South Carolina where the cost of living is far less?

Increase in outsourcing. Finally, it’s important to think about what remote working will do to the American workforce. If a company shifts all of its employees to remote status, managers and executives may eventually wonder, “What’s the point in having employees? Can’t we just outsource everything and slash our payroll expenses?” This could lead to an increase in gig workers and/or a major shift in labor to foreign markets (like China and India).

The best thing employees and entrepreneurs can do is be flexible. A willingness to adapt will open up plenty of opportunities.