Miami Agent Magazine by TIMOTHY INKLEBARGER. MAY 20, 2020
It’s going to be a long road to recovery for the housing market, but some states are beginning to see substantial week-over-week gains on housing purchase applications and others are already experiencing increases over 2019.
That’s according to economists with the Mortgage Bankers Association, who discussed the issue at the group’s Market Outlook forum, held virtually this week.
“One of the most significant trends that jumps out at us is that you have large states like New York, Florida, Georgia and California, that did show earlier signs and more severe signs of the impact from COVID-19 and are now starting to see some large week-over-week gains,” said Joel Kan, associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting for the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In the first week of May, purchase applications were up double digits in seven states: New York and Illinois by 14%, Florida 13%, Georgia and California 11% and North Carolina and Texas 10%.
“Some of these states are still down on a year-over-year basis, but we are also starting to see year-over-year gains in places like Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas,” he added. “Again a sign that we have seen some re-emergence of housing activity. This might be a step in the right direction for now. It’s still early to tell, but nevertheless these are encouraging signs.”
Compared to this time last year, purchase applications were up 12% in Illinois for the week ending May 8, while Georgia applications were up 7.3%, Texas 5.1% and North Carolina 1.7%.
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