KANU – Arizona Public Radio
As with so many other types of economic activity, the government shutdown is causing more fear than actual harm in the housing market thus far.
But that doesn’t mean things won’t start going wrong in the very near future.
Various federal agencies play greater or lesser roles in real estate transactions. With most of them sidelined, simple matters such as closing on mortgages are becoming more complicated.
“It’s going to add up pretty quickly, because loans can’t be closed in many cases,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, a financial research organization. “The damage is going to start to mount and in a few days it’s going to be a significant problem for the housing market.”
The market, which had grown more robust over the past couple of years, was starting to cool off this fall anyway, due to rising prices and interest rates.
