A lot changed when the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020. But while some of those changes – like remote work or the rise of grocery delivery services – made perfect sense, others weren’t as clear. Take the housing market, for example. Home buying demand skyrocketed during the pandemic. But why? What about a global pandemic would lead Americans to become more interested in buying a home? The initial explanation offered was that the pandemic caused us to spend more time at home, which resulted in people wanting more space. But was that really it? Well, a new study from Fannie Mae looks at what drove the pandemic-era home buying boom. The study surveyed recent home buyers and asked if they accelerated their home purchase because of the pandemic. What they found was that the majority of home buyers who moved during the pandemic bought when they did because of historically low mortgage rates, not COVID. In fact, 56 percent of respondents said the pandemic neither accelerated nor slowed their home purchase timeline. (source)
