Where Have All The Houses Gone?

Historically low interest rates and a pandemic desire for more space are driving demand — the other half is more complicated.

• Who wants to sell a house in the middle of a pandemic?
• Who would move into an assisted living facility or nursing home right now (freeing up a longtime family home)?
• Who would commit to a “forever home” (freeing up their starter house) when it’s unclear what remote work will look like in six months?
• Were in mortgage forbearance ……. meant that some homes that most likely would have come on the market over the past year, either through foreclosure or a forced sale, did not.
• For more than a decade, less housing has been built relative to historical averages.
• Low interest rates. That incentivized many homeowners to stay in their homes longer than they would have in the past, clinging to cheap mortgages.
• The low rates also encouraged many homeowners who bought a new home not to sell their previous one, but to treat it as an investment property instead.