[stevekemp]

Even if there were to be a massive freefall in housing it would take the banking system months, and probably years, to get round to processing all the mortgages which were in arrears.

Foreclosure is a slow, slow, slow process even at the best of times. People can avoid paying their mortgages and still be living in a property for many years. If you're imagining something that covers a significant amount of property that will take even longer.

[rayhendricks]

It will be 180days + unemployment + CARES act unemployment (13w) so the better part of a year before the real defaults start. Not that it won’t happen it will be much more slow motion that most people will be comfortable with.

BTW I just lost out on buying a house, the market is still there but it is much lower.

[neilgodwin]

So, you're saying no fall in prices in the short to mid term is expected?

[stevekemp]

I have heard people predicting a collapse of the housing market for almost a decade. I expect some areas will see a rise in prices, and some a fall.

Mass unemployment will cause problems for many, but at the same time lots of countries are essentially forbidding evictions and that has to have a somewhat balancing action for the short-term. How well that will hold up is an open question, and nobody knows the answer.

[Jeremy1026]

We are preparing to sell our current house and buy a new one. Our realtor (so grain of salt here) said that its currently a buyers market and that he expects it to remain that way at least through fall. But honestly, no one knows and there is no way to know.

[DSingularity]

Not necessarily. People are still buying houses. Interest rates are low.