Commentary
A U.S. housing market downturn will arrive, but it won’t be anything like 2008.
After an unreasonably hot period for home prices following the COVID-19 pandemic, fueled by a new suburban migration wave and historically low interest rates, pundits are calling for a major housing crash similar to the one experienced during the Great Recession of 2008.
Nationally, home prices rose 10.4 percent in 2020 and a record 18.8 percent in 2021, according to the industry benchmark S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index. That’s an extremely fast rise by any measure, and there are reasons to believe the music is about to stop. Mortgage rates nationwide have doubled since a year ago to more than 6 percent, inflation is hitting consumer pocketbooks, and the U.S. economy is staring at a recession….