December 06, 2019
Political turmoil is often associated with economic uncertainty, with markets bracing for any potential downturn resulting from an impending change in Washington, D.C. Can this have an impact on U.S. real estate market?
In what has been an excellent year for the housing market across the country, hearings over the possibility of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have raised some concern about how that may affect real estate.
Writing for Forbes, Ben Grise examines the historical impact presidential impeachments have had on the U.S. housing market, looking at effect they had during the Nixon and Clinton administrations.
His conclusion? It’s doubtful that whatever happens with President Trump will have much influence over what has been a strong market:
"Although economic uncertainty can impact the real estate and housing markets, in my opinion, impeachment proceedings are not likely to have any negative impact. Simply put, consumers’ confidence to spend primarily drives the markets, and impeachment proceedings are unlikely to create enough economic uncertainty to impact that negatively." --Ben Grise
Grise points to the historically low interest rates in the U.S. as strong reason to believe the market will continue to function as it has for majority of this year, and going forward. Increasing sales of new homes also points to a trend that bodes well for the market as a whole, which is seeing high demand thanks to the low rates.
While other economic policies remain important to watch at the national level, Washington politics shouldn’t be a deterrent to investors who see opportunities in the current environment.
