Housing markets in states along the East Coast, as well as Illinois — with clusters in New Jersey, Delaware, the Chicago area, and central Florida — were most at risk to the impact of the ongoing pandemic, according to ATTOM’s second-quarter 2021 Coronavirus Report. The West remained far less exposed.
“The coronavirus pandemic is easing, and the U.S. economy is gradually coming back to life, which suggests that the nation’s housing market will indeed escape any major damage from the crisis. No major signs are showing anything different at this point. Nevertheless, the pandemic is still out there and remains a potent threat to home sales and values, as well as to the broader economy,” ATTOM Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a release. “Amid a generally upbeat outlook, we continue to see areas that appear more at risk for a fall, especially in specific areas of the East Coast and Midwest.”
Florida, New Jersey, other East Coast states and Illinois had 37 of the 50 counties most exposed to the potential economic impact of the pandemic in the second quarter, according to the report. They included seven counties in the Chicago metropolitan area, four near New York City, all three in Delaware, and four in central Florida.
The only three Western counties in the top 50 were in northern California and southern Arizona.
Texas had 13 of the 50 least at-risk counties, including five in the Dallas metropolitan area (Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, and Tarrant counties) and two in the Austin metro area (Travis and Williamson counties). Minnesota had five, including four in the Minneapolis metro area (Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, and Scott counties).
Other at-risk counties with a population of 500,000 or more included Harris County (Houston), Texas; Middlesex County, (outside Boston) Mass.; Salt Lake County (Salt Lake City), Utah; Macomb County, (outside Detroit) Mich., and Suffolk County (Boston), Mass.
Markets were considered more or less at risk based on the percentage of homes facing possible foreclosure, the portion with mortgage balances that exceeded the estimated property value, and the percentage of average local wages required to pay for major homeownership expenses on median-priced homes.