【World Property Journal】Home Buying Transactions in U.S. to Dip Almost 60 Percent This Spring

New research by Zillow is reporting this week home buyer demand and healthy housing-market dynamics will prevent U.S. home prices from dropping more than 2 to 3 percent -- or more than 1.7% year over year -- in the wake of the coronavirus.

The forecast says home sales will fall as much as 60% this spring and take through the end of next year to recover, while prices will fall through the year but recover a few months sooner.

The recovery is likely to look like a checkmark, with transactions building at a pace of about 10% each month through the end of 2021, according to the forecast by Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell and her team of economists and analysts.

The steep drop in sales is spurred by overall economic uncertainty and the industry adjusting to public health orders that shut down or hindered the ways transactions have traditionally been done.

Until March, this spring was expected to be the hottest home shopping season in years, with record-low inventory and interest rates, and high buyer demand fueled by ongoing demographic trends, such as an ever-growing share of millennials entering prime first-time homebuyer age.
 

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