Elana Knoller, Better.com chief product officer:
The trend of Millennials moving to the suburbs and mid-sized cities will continue after the pandemic subsides as it was in motion before Covid-19. The pandemic has accelerated what is a generational trend: getting married, having children and desiring more space. I expect price increases in the highest-cost metropolitan areas, such as San Francisco and New York, will trail rising mid-size cities, such as Austin, Texas and Salt Lake City.Although the U.S.
The federal government will create an incentive stimulus program for landlords and homeowners to allow renters or owners to remain in their homes and will extend the eviction moratorium to line up with the vaccine rollout.The housing market should continue to be a bright spot in 2021. Key to this will be mortgage rates that we expect to remain low as the Fed keeps up its security purchases.
Although 2021 will not see the spike in demand for residential property that characterized 2020, I expect to see a continuation in 2021 of trend shifts catalyzed by the pandemic. While 2021 will see home builders responding to higher prices, supply and inventory will still be limited. Fed policy will enable lower mortgage rates for highly creditworthy borrowers, while inflation may begin to emerge.
According to our data, this record refinance activity is showing signs of flattening as we continue to enter peak home-buying season. From April to May, purchase volume increased in every state in the U.S. except for Alabama, which saw a slight decline.