One of the biggest questions on everyone’s minds these days states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty Of Prescott.  What’s going to happen to the housing market in the second half of the year?  Based on recent data on the economy, unemployment, real estate, and more, many economists are revising their forecasts for the remainder of 2020 – and the outlook is extremely encouraging. Here’s a look at what some experts have to say about key areas that will power the industry and the economy forward this year. Mortgage Purchase Originations:  Joel Kan,  Associate Vice President of Economic and Industry Forecasting ,  Mortgage Bankers Association “The recovery in housing is happening faster than expected. We anticipated a drop off in Q3. But, we don’t think that’s the case anymore. We revised our Q3 numbers higher. Before, we predicted a 2 percent decline in purchase originations in 2020, now we think there will be 2 percent growth this year.” Hom...

The  New York Times  recently ran an  article  regarding unemployment titled:  Don’t Cheer Too Soon. Keep an Eye on the Core Jobless Rate . The piece suggests we should look at unemployment numbers somewhat differently. The author of the article, Jed Kolko, is a well-respected economist who is currently the  Chief Economist  at  Indeed , the world’s largest online job site. Previously, he was  Chief Economist  and  VP of Analytics  at  Trulia , the online real estate site. Kolko suggests states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott  “the coronavirus pandemic has broken most economic charts and models, and all the numbers we regularly watch need a closer look.”  He goes on to explain that the decline in the unemployment number reported by the  Bureau of Labor Statistics  (BLS) earlier this month was driven by a drop in temporary layoffs. If we strip those out, we’re left wi...

Earlier this month,  realtor.com  announced the release of their initial  Housing Recovery Index , a weekly guide showing how the pandemic has impacted the residential real estate market states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott. The index leverages a weighted average of four key components of the housing industry, tracking each of the following: Housing Demand  – Growth in online search activity Home Price  – Growth in asking prices Housing Supply  – Growth of new listings The pace of Sales  – Difference in time-on-market The index then compares the current status  “to the last week of January 2020 market trend, as a baseline for pre-COVID market growth. The overall index is set to 100 in this baseline period. The higher a market’s index value, the higher its recovery and vice versa.” The graph below charts the index by showing how the real estate market started out strong in early 2020, and then dropped dramatic...

Earlier this month,  realtor.com  announced the release of their initial  Housing Recovery Index , a weekly guide showing how the pandemic has impacted the residential real estate market states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott. The index leverages a weighted average of four key components of the housing industry, tracking each of the following: Housing Demand  – Growth in online search activity Home Price  – Growth in asking prices Housing Supply  – Growth of new listings The pace of Sales  – Difference in time-on-market The index then compares the current status  “to the last week of January 2020 market trend, as a baseline for pre-COVID market growth. The overall index is set to 100 in this baseline period. The higher a market’s index value, the higher its recovery and vice versa.” The graph below charts the index by showing how the real estate market started out strong in early 2020, and then dropped dramatic...

According to the latest  FreddieMac Quarterly Forecast , mortgage interest rates have fallen to historically low levels this spring and they’re projected to remain low states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer at West USA Realty of Prescott. This means there’s a huge incentive for buyers who are ready to purchase. And homeowners looking for eager buyers can take advantage of this opportune time to sell as well. There’s a very positive outlook on interest rates going forward, as the  projections  from the  FreddieMac  report indicate continued lows into 2021: “Going forward, we forecast the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage to remain low, falling to a yearly average of 3.4% in 2020 and 3.2% in 2021.”   With mortgage rates hovering at such compelling places, ongoing  buyer interest  is bound to keep driving the housing market forward. Rates also reached another record low last week, so homebuyers are in what  FreddieMac  is identifying as the...

One of the bright spots of the 2020 real estate market is the growth in equity homeowners are experiencing across the country states Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott. According to the recently released  Homeowner Equity Insights Report  from  CoreLogic , in nearly every state there was a year-over-year first-quarter equity increase, averaging out to a 6.5% overall gain. The report notes: “CoreLogic analysis shows U.S. homeowners with mortgages (roughly 63% of all properties) have seen their equity increase by a total of nearly $590 billion since the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 6.5%, year over year.” (See map below): This means that  “ In the first quarter of 2020, the average homeowner gained approximately $9,600 in equity during the past year.” That’s a huge win for homeowners, especially for those looking to sell their houses and make a move this  summer . Having equity to re-invest in your next home is a major for...

Mike Eastwood Chief Executive Officer of West USA Realty of Prescott states.  Wall Street Journal  just released its latest monthly  Survey of Economists . In an  article  on the findings, they reported: “The U.S. economy will be in recovery by the third quarter of this year, economists said in a survey that also concluded the labor market will fare better than previously expected following the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.” Clearly, the latest  jobs report  from the  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics  confirmed the labor market is outperforming expectations, as it revealed that 2.5 million jobs were added. Directly before the release, experts forecasted that we would  lose over 8 million jobs . A second revelation indicating the economy is already about to turn around was also somewhat unexpected. More than 9 out of 10 economists surveyed believe the recovery has already begun this quarter or will begin in the third quarter. Here a...