LendingTree’s Tendayi Kapfidze on the nation’s home buying trends

In today’s HousingWire Daily interview, features Tendayi Kapfidze, LendingTree’s chief economist, discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the nation’s home buying trends.

Here is a small preview of the interview with Kapfidze. The transcript below has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Q: The COVID-19 pandemic has left millions of Americans financially strained as unemployment rates have climbed and job markets have shrunken. What are some impacts you’ve been following?

Tendayi Kapfidze: Around 40 million or so Americans lost their jobs or had a negative shock to their income, and as of the most recent data, there are around 20 million Americans who are still receiving some form of income support in terms of the various unemployment benefits that are out there.

 So, a lot of Americans are really under a significant financial strain. And, for many who had hoped their jobs would be coming back after a few months, that's not turning out to be the case.

 A lot of the job losses that we saw in March, April and May, are what are called temporary job losses, which means that the person who loses their job expects to get their job back within, say, six months or so. Now, even though we're seeing fewer job losses, a lot of those original jobs didn't come back and people that are losing jobs now are enduring what is called permanent job losses.

 So, we've seen a transition from temporary to permanent job losses. And that means a weak economy, going forward.

Q: According to LendingTree, 46% of those who responded to its survey indicated they were thinking about relocating within the next year. Of this total, 27% said they wanted to move to a new place in their current market, while 12% said they wanted to move to another city and 8% said they wanted to move to a new state entirely. Why are some homebuyers either choosing to remain at home or relocate to a different market?

Tendayi Kapfidze: There are a variety of reasons. For some, it’s now realizing that maybe they need more space at home, especially if they’re working from home and their kids are in remote school. The home may not offer enough space for everybody to do their work without interruptions from the rest of the family.

A lot of home buyers or home seekers, even people who are renting are looking for more space for activities they’re not doing at home. I think even after this health crisis is over, a lot of these work from home policies are going to remain. So, you know, it's a long-run view that people are probably going to need more space at home.

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