Property showings took a big leap up this past week, after slumping over Memorial Day and the following demonstrations in response to George Floyd. Showings are surging ahead of pre-COVID-19 activity, another sign of economic market recovery. Summer is becoming the spring market of 2020.
Pending sales continue to climb while new listings are holding steady.
The trend line for coming soon listings remains close to that of new listings… and Remax Results also has an additional 352 listings withheld from the MLS while sellers are getting them ready to sell. It’s good to know that we can continue to look forward to new listings.
interest rates
Good news for buyers securing a mortgage… the Federal Reserve announced this week that they would be maintaining the target range for the federal funds rate at 0-.25%. They predict no interest-rate increases through 2022.
mortgage delinquencies
I have had people ask about coming foreclosures due to job losses when COVID-19 shut everything down. The StarTribune reported that mortgage delinquency rates doubled last month in the 16-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. This reflected the number of homeowners who didn’t make their April mortgage payment. Comparing it to the rest of the nation, the Twin Cities is still among the lowest in the nation.
The StarTribune article by Jim Buchta explained why widespread foreclosures such as took place following the 2008 housing crisis aren’t likely to happen this time.
Roger Kadlec, president of the Minnesota Mortgage Association, said people who work in restaurants and other service businesses, which have been particularly hard hit by the government shutdown, are among those who are having the most difficult time keeping up with their bills.
Though the increase in late payments during April was steep and sudden, mortgage experts said the situation bears little resemblance to the foreclosure crisis that followed the Great Recession. Home prices in the Twin Cities are still on the rise, and homeowners have far more equity in their homes than they did when the mortgage crisis caused house prices to plummet.
Kadlec said because homeowners have so much equity, they will have an incentive to keep making their payments or sell the house rather than let it go into foreclosure. “This is a very different situation,” he said.
“People are actively going back to work, and that should help people to get their mortgage delinquencies caught up,” he said.
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – shensrud@homesmsp.com
