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Comment by stevekemp | Hacker News Reader

Even if there were to be a massive freefall in housing it would take the banking system months, and probably years, to get round to processing all the mortgages which were in arrears.

Foreclosure is a slow, slow, slow process even at the best of times. People can avoid paying their mortgages and still be living in a property for many years. If you're imagining something that covers a significant amount of property that will take even longer.

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It will be 180days + unemployment + CARES act unemployment (13w) so the better part of a year before the real defaults start. Not that it won’t happen it will be much more slow motion that most people will be comfortable with.

BTW I just lost out on buying a house, the market is still there but it is much lower.

So, you're saying no fall in prices in the short to mid term is expected?

I have heard people predicting a collapse of the housing market for almost a decade. I expect some areas will see a rise in prices, and some a fall.

Mass unemployment will cause problems for many, but at the same time lots of countries are essentially forbidding evictions and that has to have a somewhat balancing action for the short-term. How well that will hold up is an open question, and nobody knows the answer.

We are preparing to sell our current house and buy a new one. Our realtor (so grain of salt here) said that its currently a buyers market and that he expects it to remain that way at least through fall. But honestly, no one knows and there is no way to know.

Not necessarily. People are still buying houses. Interest rates are low.

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