Tennessee’s housing report showed the state “did experience a strong first quarter of 2020,” but the report’s author cautions that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic disruptions that followed won’t be clearer until subsequent reports.
The MTSU Business and Economic Research Center’s statewide report for the first quarter “shows promising results,” with home sales increasing overall from the previous quarter and home prices up from the previous year across the state, noted report author Murat Arik, director of the BERC at Middle Tennessee State University.
However, COVID-19’s impact on initial unemployment insurance claims — up 381.6% from the previous year and 339% from the previous quarter — “is unprecedented” and the true impact of economic shutdown measures that began in mid-March weren’t captured in this report, Arik noted.
Source: Voice
