Are you considering buying a house for investment or personal use in 2020? Are you concerned about the impact COVID will have the housing market in your county? Are you worried you might lose your money making an investment that might drop in value?
The good news is that not all housing markets are created equal. Nor do they all face the same risk from the aftermath of this pandemic.
In early April, ATTOM Data Solutions released an analysis of which US cities and counties are most vulnerable to a drop in real estate prices due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They ranked 483 of the most populous counties based on risk, with a rank of “1” being the highest risk. It turns out that nearly half – 24 – of the 50 highest risk counties fall in just two states, New Jersey and Florida. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic in general faces far higher risk than most of the country, as does much of California.
Texas boasts ten of the 50 lowest-risk counties. Other states with relatively low risk include Wisconsin and Colorado.
The map looks like it has a lot of gray counties not accounted for because ATTOM only analyzed the most populated counties in the US. They set a baseline of at least 100,000 residents, and at least 100 homes listed for sale in the first quarter of 2020. The majority of counties in the US are only sparsely populated, and therefore don’t register in the data below. Check out the interactive map below to see how your county fares!
