GVSU expert: Local housing market will go from bad to worse, but bounce back could be quicker than rest of the country

The local housing marketing was heating up in January and February before the COVID-19 pandemic brought everything to a halt, said Paul Isely, associate dean and professor of economics in the Seidman College of Business.

Isely said earlier in the year, the housing market in West Michigan was strong and home prices were starting to rise.

"Much of that was because of millennials," he said. "They are reaching a point in life where they are looking for houses. There was a lot of pent up demand." 

National housing numbers in March showed an 8.5 percent drop. Isely said the March numbers were buoyed by February sales, so looking forward, the housing market will go from bad to worse because of COVID-19.

"When we got to the second half of March, we began to see layoffs and furloughs happen," explained Isely. "That meant people couldn't get loans or they took their house off the market. We are expecting April numbers to be very bad."

When the economy does restart, Isely said the local housing market may recover better than other areas around the country. "As we come out the other side of this recession, whenever that happens to be, the density of millennials in Kent County is going to really help bring our housing market back faster. So, there is some optimism on the other side of this."