Summer Housing Market is Looking Good for Sales

Despite current unemployment numbers, the economy is showing signs of life. To be clear, there is still a long way to go, but roughly 5 million Americans returned to work in the month of June. With several million people returning to work, comes financial stability for 5 million more Americans. Financial instability was a large reason for the downturn in the housing market in the first place; many people felt it was imprudent to make such a large investment when they weren’t sure what their next paycheck would look like. Naturally, this bodes well for the housing market as a whole. 
According the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, national unemployment dropped to 11.3% in June 2020. To put that in perspective, the national unemployment rate was 14.7% in April 2020, and 13.3% in May 2020. While the unemployment rate is still high, the country is trending in the right direction. Keep in mind that as Governor Newsom imposes more restrictions on the state in response to the resurgence of COVID-19, the unemployment rate is likely to tick back up for low-income earners. This doesn’t take away from the larger message that the housing market is recovering. 
Individuals who earn a significant income are unlikely to be hit as hard as low-income workers (who typically work in industries that are directly impacted by COVID-19-related orders), which means those individuals with an income sufficient to purchase a home will have the financial security that enables them to do so, notwithstanding the impact of the virus. 
Taking the decreasing unemployment rate, the reality that high-income earners have more stability than low-income earners, and pair it with the historically low mortgage rates (3.07% for a 30-year FRM as of July 2, 2020), and we have a recipe for a robust summer season for the housing market. The proof is in the pudding, as mortgage applications shot up 18.1% above last year’s applications on June 19, 2020. The bottom line is that as long as we don’t return to a full shutdown, the Summer housing market will be a good one for sellers; inventory is down, interest is up, and that is driving the prices up. 
At the Chernov Team we understand that knowledge is power, and knowledge of how the market is behaving is powerful knowledge indeed. At the Chernov Team we know that whoever comes to the table most prepared leaves with the most, and the Chernov Team always leaves the table with the most.