There are a few reasons why home prices will take a while to shake out (if they do at all). The CARES act mortgage forbearance is likely preventing any panic se

There are a few reasons why home prices will take a while to shake out (if they do at all). The CARES act mortgage forbearance is likely preventing any panic selling at the moment. And home owners have a few other tools at their disposal to delay selling like taking in sub-tenants, refinancing, etc.. So I imagine most people selling right now are doing it because they want to, not because they have to. And the real estate agents all have an incentive to keep prices high, so buyers are probably getting the usual 'this is a great time to buy' spiel. It took about 2 years for house prices to bottom in the 2008 recession. I think the big reason was that it took a while for the record number of foreclosures to work their way through the system. If we do see the housing market impacted due to COVID, I wouldn't be surprised if it took a similar amount of time. But I also think that a quick recovery could prevent or mitigate a downturn.