The Modern Pied-à-Terre: How Remote Work Is Redefining the City Second Home

There is a French phrase that has quietly become the defining real estate concept of the hybrid work era. Pied-à-terre — literally “foot on the ground” — describes a small, secondary home kept in a city, used not as a primary residence but as a stylish, convenient base for the times you need to be there. Once the exclusive preserve of the wealthy, the pied-à-terre has been radically democratised by two forces: the remote work revolution and the rise of co-ownership property models.

For a new generation of professionals who split their week between countryside tranquility and urban energy, the pied-à-terre has evolved from a luxury indulgence into a practical lifestyle tool. Paris for Monday meetings, back to Provence by Thursday. A base in Miami during the European winter, a home in the English countryside through summer. The rhythm of modern professional life increasingly demands it — and a co-ownership share in a city property is how the smartest buyers are making it happen without committing millions to a second full purchase.

The mass shift to remote and hybrid working has reshaped the geography of how professionals live. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 22% of the American workforce now works remotely or in a hybrid arrangement in a typical week — a figure that shows no sign of retreating. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics found that over a third of workers regularly worked from home at least one day per week as of 2025, with concentrations highest among high-income professional and creative sectors.

What this means in practice is a class of mobile, high-earning professionals with a paradoxical housing need: they don’t need to be in the city every day, but they absolutely need the city when they do. Hotels are expensive, transient, and impersonal. Long-term city rentals tie you into leases and commutes that no longer reflect your actual life. The solution is a quality, permanent urban base you control — but sized and priced for how you actually use it: part-time, purposeful, premium.

The Savills Portfolio report on the ‘Return of the Pied-à-Terre’ identified this exact shift — noting surging demand in prime central London neighbourhoods like Marylebone (+86%), Belgravia (+85%), and Mayfair (+78%) as professionals who relocated to the country during the pandemic returned to needing a quality city base without returning to a full-time city life. The same pattern has emerged in Paris’s Marais, Miami’s Brickell, and New York’s Upper East Side. The modern pied-à-terre is not about replacing your primary home — it is about completing your lifestyle.

Luxury urban second homes are increasingly attractive as an asset class. In the first half of 2024, US homes sold for $1 million or more increased by 5.2%, with median prices for high-end properties rising by 14.2%, according to Norada Real Estate. The luxury market has shown remarkable resilience: nearly half of all luxury home purchases in Q1 2024 were made in cash, insulating the segment from interest rate pressures that battered more affordable markets.

In prime London, Knight Frank data shows that international demand for city pied-à-terres has recovered strongly, with buyers from the US, Middle East, and Southeast Asia driving significant price appreciation in Mayfair and Knightsbridge. Paris similarly commands extreme premiums for central apartments: the 1st through 8th arrondissements consistently achieve €15,000–€25,000 per square metre for well-positioned properties. Miami, which recorded an 11.6% increase in international passenger traffic in Q1 2024 alone, continues to attract a global buyer base that sees the city as both lifestyle destination and long-term value store.

Yet these very price points create the core problem: a 60–80 square metre pied-à-terre in prime central Paris costs upwards of €1.2 million. In Mayfair, equivalent properties routinely exceed £1.5 million. In Brickell Miami, a concierge-serviced luxury apartment commands $800,000–$2 million. For most professionals, tying that capital to a property you use 40–60 nights a year is simply inefficient — however desirable the asset may be.

co-ownership is the model that solves the pied-à-terre equation. Rather than purchasing an entire luxury city property — tying up capital in an asset you occupy a fraction of the time — you acquire a legal, deeded share in a property through a registered LLC structure. Typically a 1/8th ownership stake, this gives you approximately 45 days per year of exclusive use, fully managed, fully maintained, with your personal belongings stored and arranged before each visit.

The financial mathematics are compelling. A 1/8th share in a prime city property under €300,000 — compared to €2 million-plus for outright purchase — frees substantial capital for other investments while delivering exactly the lifestyle asset you need. Running costs — maintenance, insurance, property taxes, management — are split proportionately across co-owners, so a 1/8th owner pays 1/8th of everything. The result is luxury pied-à-terre living at a cost structure that reflects actual use.

Unlike timeshare products, co-ownership properties are genuine real estate. Your share is a legal equity stake in the LLC that holds the property title. You can sell your share on the open market — not back to a company at a prescribed rate, but to any willing buyer at market value. Co-Ownership Property’s data suggests average resale times for shares of under one month, significantly faster than full luxury property sales. The share appreciates or depreciates with the underlying property value — meaning you hold a real asset, not a depreciating leisure product.

Paris remains the archetypal pied-à-terre city. Its compact, walkable central arrondissements place you within minutes of world-class restaurants, cultural institutions, and business districts. For European professionals and Americans with business or family ties to France, a Parisian base offers both lifestyle richness and practical utility. Paris co-ownership properties give access to this at a fraction of the full market cost, with managed access to properties in the most sought-after neighbourhoods.

London presents a slightly different proposition: Europe’s largest financial centre, with deep professional networks and unmatched cultural infrastructure. Post-Brexit, the London property market has seen international buyers reassess entry points, creating value opportunities for those taking long positions. A co-ownership share in a prime London co-ownership property delivers a foothold in one of the world’s most liquid property markets, with the flexibility to use it for 45+ nights a year across any combination of business trips, cultural visits, and family stays.

Miami has transformed from a leisure destination into a genuine global business hub — driven by a decade of corporate relocations from New York and California, an international financial services sector, and year-round sunshine that makes it uniquely livable. The city’s short-term rental market is notably permissive compared to European capitals, meaning Miami co-ownership often carries rental income potential. For North American buyers, Miami combines investment fundamentals with a lifestyle offering that genuinely competes with European city bases.

Not all city properties are equal as pied-à-terre investments. Location within the city matters enormously: a co-ownership apartment three tube stops from central London is a very different product from one in Mayfair. When evaluating a city co-ownership opportunity, prioritise walkability to key business districts, proximity to transport hubs, and the density of amenities — restaurants, cultural venues, retail — within walking distance. A genuine pied-à-terre should reduce friction, not add it.

Concierge services and management quality are critical. The entire value proposition of a city pied-à-terre is frictionless access — you arrive, the apartment is ready, your belongings are in place, and your city life begins immediately. Co-Ownership Property management handles all of this: cleaning, maintenance, booking coordination, and owner communication, so co-owners never need to manage anything themselves or coordinate with other stakeholders.

Consider the booking flexibility and notice periods offered by the platform. The best co-ownership models allow reservations from 48 hours to two years in advance via a dedicated app, with no fixed rotation schedules. This matters enormously for the hybrid professional lifestyle — spontaneous city trips should be possible, not just planned ones. Finally, understand the exit route before purchasing: a sell co-ownership share process should be straightforward, with clear processes for listing and selling when your lifestyle or priorities evolve.

Consider what a city co-ownership share actually enables. You fly into Paris on Sunday evening, and your apartment — in the Marais, perhaps, or Saint-Germain — is prepared and waiting. Monday and Tuesday are client meetings, dinners, strategy sessions. Wednesday morning you catch the Eurostar back to your countryside home. Your Paris apartment is cleaned and secured behind you, your belongings stored until next time. Total duration: two nights. Total hassle: approximately zero.

Scale this across a year — perhaps eight or ten trips to Paris, four to London, a fortnight in Miami in February — and you have a genuinely different quality of professional and personal life. The pied-à-terre lifestyle is not about owning more property; it is about owning smarter, more useful property that matches the actual rhythm of how you live and work in 2026.

This is why co-ownership is not merely an investment calculation — it is a lifestyle architecture decision. The buyers who benefit most are those who recognise that the traditional model of owning one large, expensive city home and commuting every day is no longer the only — or even the best — blueprint. Co-ownership case studies consistently show buyers who moved from full property ownership to co-ownership shares reporting significantly higher lifestyle satisfaction, lower financial stress, and more meaningful use of their property time.

Several structural forces suggest the pied-à-terre trend has significant runway. Remote work adoption, while past its peak growth phase, has stabilised at levels that are permanently higher than pre-pandemic norms. The International Workplace Group reported in 2025 that 83% of workers globally prefer a hybrid arrangement to a full-time office return — a preference that is now a hiring expectation as much as a lifestyle one.

Simultaneously, urban property in the world’s best cities is a chronically scarce asset class. Paris has strict building height restrictions; London’s prime postcodes are essentially fully developed; Miami’s waterfront is finite. Supply constraints compound demand from a growing global high-net-worth population — Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2025 projected that the global ultra-high-net-worth population will grow 28% by 2029. City pied-à-terres sit at the intersection of scarce supply and growing demand.

Co-ownership models are uniquely positioned to capitalise on this shift. By allowing multiple owners to share not just the cost but the custody and management complexity of a property, these structures make the asset class accessible to a broader professional cohort. The running costs of co-ownership are a fraction of solo ownership, while the lifestyle benefits are equivalent. As awareness of this model grows among affluent professionals, demand for co-ownership shares in prime city locations is set to accelerate. Browse all available properties to see current city co-ownership opportunities.