Will housing pick up even if unemployment remains low?
There’s a big problem with waiting for a housing recovery: You won’t see a real, strong recovery in the housing market until unemployment takes a serious dip.
That’s a rather unpleasant thought, considering that unemployment levels are still rising across the country.
A story on the Reuters news wire sums it up well: The continued fear of job losses is slowing any housing market rebound.
This makes perfect sense. Buying a home, and taking on a big monthly mortgage payment, is a serious commitment even in the best economic times. But when the economy is in a full-scale recession? When no one really feels that their jobs are safe? It’s asking a lot to expect people to purchase a home in times like these.
Of course, there are folks out there who have no choice but to sell or buy a home. Maybe they’ve been transferred by their employer. Maybe their family is growing, and their current residence only has one full bathroom.
The problem is, there are only so many people who have to move. For the housing market to thrive again, the country also needs people who simply want to move.
That happened all the time during the housing boom. You remember that boom, don’t you? It ran from about 2001 through the first three or four months of 2006. Then things went downhill rather quickly.
Today, the hope for, if not another housing boom (Frankly, we don’t need another of those.) but the beginning of a steady recovery of the housing market rests largely on employers. Simply put, they need to stop firing people and start hiring them.
