Which Housing Markets Are Most Vulnerable To Coronavirus Impact?

A recent analysis of housing markets all over the country has shown that more than half of the 50 housing markets most vulnerable to collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic are centered in the Northeast and Florida. 

The largest northeastern cluster is in New Jersey and includes 14 of their 21 counties, including five in the New York City suburbs, with four surrounding counties in New York state and three in Connecticut. Another 10 were in Florida, but the only west coast area at risk was a single county in California.

A few of their findings:

 

• The Florida counties are solely in the northern and central parts of the state, including the Orlando suburbs.
• The West Coast has risk along the entire corridor, including Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and even into Louisiana.
• Southwestern and Midwest states appear to be largely safe of major upheaval, minus a small pocket in the Chicago and Peoria metro areas.
• Texas has 10 of the least vulnerable counties, including the Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston and Midland-Odessa metro areas

 

These findings correlate with previous predictions for good cash flow markets being largely found in Texas and the Midwest.

ATTOM Data Solutions came to these conclusions after analyzing risk based on the number of foreclosure notices received in Q4 2019, the percentage of homes underwater in Q4 2019 and the percentage of local wages needed to pay the expenses associated with home ownership. Using a sample size of 483 counties who reported the data, they then ranked the counties from lowest to highest in each category and combined those rankings.

“It’s too early to tell how much effect the xoronavirus fallout will have on different housing markets around the country. But the impact is likely to be significant from region to region and county to county,” said Todd Teta, chief product officer with ATTOM Data Solutions. 

“What we’ve done is spotlight areas that appear to be more or less at risk based on several important factors. From that analysis, it looks like the Northeast is more at risk than other areas. As we head into the home buying season, the next few months will reveal how severe the impact will be.”