Housing Markets Most Impacted by COVID-19

In a recent interview with CNBC, Jeff Ostrowski, analyst, Bankrate.com, detailed the housing markets most impacted by COVID-19.

Ostrowski said he created an index—the House Hardship Index—which combines mortgage delinquency rates and unemployment rates on a state-by-state basis.

He found Nevada and Hawaii were the two most impacted markets, with Nevada having a delinquency rate of 9.9% and an unemployment rate of 25%. Hawaii had a mortgage delinquency rate of 9.3% with 22.3% unemployment.

“That’s more about the structure of their economy. Those are both very tourism heavy states and there was really no tourism in April and May,” he said, adding both Michigan and New Jersey were hit hard by the virus.

Housing markets that fared the best were North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Nebraska, as each had delinquency rates below 5% and unemployment below 10%.