Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” has never felt more relevant. With the first quarter of the year riddled with economic anxiety and a global pandemic—and the second quarter not looking too hot, either—Fannie Mae’s projected nearly 15 percent drop in home sales for 2020 is another reminder of the challenges to come. But the report also brings hope: Housing prices will likely remain stable, and if the pandemic is contained soon, the company expects the housing market to bounce back in 2021.
At the end of last year, economists expected that 2020 would be a strong year for housing. But now thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, home sales are poised to nose dive in the months ahead.
A new report from Fannie Mae FNMA, 2.93% projects that home sales will fall by nearly 15% in 2020. Driving that decline will be a downturn in existing home sales, which Fannie Mae expects will drop to an annual rate of 4.54 million units, down from 5.34 million in 2019.
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