The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Effects on the United States Housing Market

Abstract: This research examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the housing market in the United States, with a specific focus on housing prices and their relationship with COVID-19 infection rates. The study utilizes a pan­el-data regression model, using monthly county-level data spanning from January 2020 to December 2022. Two separate models were employed, one for urban counties and another for rural counties, determined by population data. These models employ a fixed effects regression approach with robust standard errors and incorporate various independent variables to explore the associa­tion between county-level economic activity, unemployment rates, long-term interest rates, COVID-19 infection cases, and national housing market prices. The findings of this investigation reveal that the prices of homes in the Unit­ed States were influenced by both the number of COVID-19 infection cases and the economic factors under consideration. Interestingly, urban counties experi­enced more pronounced fluctuations in housing prices compared to their rural counterparts. Moreover, there was a noticeable shift in housing demand, with a preference for less densely populated areas over densely populated ones. The outcomes of this study offer insights into spatial disparities and their implica­tions for the real estate market.

7th International Scientific Conference on Recent Advances in Information Technology, Tourism, Economics, Management and Agriculture – ITEMA 2023 – Selected Papers, Hybrid (Faculty of Organization and Informatics Varaždin, University of Zagreb, Croatia), October 26, 2023

ITEMA Selected Papers published by: Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – Belgrade, Serbia

ITEMA conference partners: Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Maribor, Slovenia; Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, Varaždin; Faculty of Geography, University of Belgrade, Serbia; Institute of Marketing, Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poland; Faculty of Agriculture, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine ”King Michael I of Romania”, Romania

ITEMA Conference 2023 Selected Papers: ISBN 978-86-80194-76-9, ISSN 2683-5991, DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/ITEMA.S.P.2023

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission.

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