March 2020 Real Estate Market Update

We understand that COVID-19 (Cornoavirus) is at the top of all of our minds. Always refer to the guidelines set by your local government, and adhere to those set forth by the CDC and WHO.

Here are all the serious virus outbreaks, going all the way back to 2003, and how that impacted the S&P 500. We can see that the SARS dropped the market 12.8%, the Avian Influenza dropped it almost 7%, MERS virus dropped it more than 7%, Ebola virus – 5.8%, and Zika virus – 12.9%. Now we don’t know where the coronavirus is going to end up in that ranking, but we know that the market came back strong after those viruses.

Now as the Treasury returns drop, and have been at under 1% for the first time in history, there’s a direct correlation between the path of the Treasury yield and the 30-year mortgage rate. And some people are projecting we might see sub-3% on a 30-year mortgage. The silver lining here is that buyers can get into a more expensive home for the same budget before the mortgage rate drop – sellers could refinance (we covered the pros and cons of this in our last newsletter), or move up to the home of their dreams for a similar monthly payment.
So… what’s going on in Tallahassee?