As state and communities take early steps to reopen their economies, realtor.com predicted Wednesday that home sales in the United States will rebound in the late summer and early fall before experiencing a downturn late in the year.
Overall, the forecast predicts home sales will be down 15 percent from 2019.
“The U.S. housing market started 2020 with substantial momentum,” realtor.com Chief Economist Danielle Hale said. “With some of the best home sales and housing starts in more than a decade, our biggest challenge going into the spring home-buying season was a lack of for sale homes. The coronavirus pandemic has kept both buyers and sellers on the sidelines, preserving market balance, for now.”
Hale expects home sales will resemble a W – with sales rebounding from July through August from spring lows amid the coronavirus pandemic, followed by another downturn in the fall as virus infections strike again.
“As cities and states begin the slow process of reopening, we’re going to see a see-saw recovery with ups and downs that will favor the nation’s secondary markets in the short-term,” she said.
The forecast expects home prices will level off, increasing just 1.1 percent for the calendar year and possibly registering small declines by the end of 2020.