Housing market will rebound from coronavirus: Barbara Corcoran
Suburbs will make quicker recovery than urban centers, real estate mogul says
Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran discusses how the housing market and American lifestyle will shift along with coronavirus.
The housing market will bounce back from the coronavirus, economists and real estate experts suggest.
To be sure, home sales have fallen as a result of COVID-19, which has put on a pause and making it nearly impossible for real estate agents to show new homes in person with social distancing orders in place. But the market will heat up in suburbs as people look to escape big cities for more room and the ability to maintain their social distance from others, real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran says.
Real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran. (Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images)
“The number of [home] sales were down by 13 to 20 percent in April, that’s a big number, but the beautiful thing about the April reports were better than expected because prices were up on average 4 percent,” Corcoran told FOX Business on Tuesday, noting the challenge real estate agents faced by not being able to show homes in person.
The number of homes on the market has fallen 45 percent, according to data from Realator.com. Home prices, however, are slated to stay relatively stable so prospective home buyers may have less competition from all-cash investment buyers unlike the 2008 financial crisis proved when they commanded the market.
Housing markets in more urban areas, however, will see sluggish growth, Cocoran said.
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“There’s going to be a migration -- at least short term -- from the city areas. If you look at New York City, Miami and San Francisco, those sales numbers are down 40 percent, that’s so much more dramatic compared to everywhere else,” Cocoran told FOX Business' Neil Cavuto on Wednesday. “I don’t think you’ll see those city areas recovering quite as well as people are hoping they’re going to.”
Cocoran says as more corporate offices like big tech companies such as Twitter and Google allow employees to work from home indefinitely, there is more of a desire for potential buyers and sellers to have more space.
"People have adjusted to actually working at home. It really has changed the desire to commute," Cocoran said. "You'll even find that employers are going to say, 'Why am I going to fight that if people are being productive at home.' "