By Yun Li | CNBC
Some investors are fearing that the recent action in the stock and bond markets is signaling a recession may be nearing. If that’s the case, there could be an unlikely market to hide out in this time: housing.
It was the center of the last crisis, but before that housing prices tended to hold up and even rise modestly during an economic downturn as mortgage rates fell in tandem with interest rates. If history is any guide, the housing market could be the unlikely safe haven in the next recession once again.
The U.S. housing market has weathered all the recessions since 1980, with the exception of the Great Recession of 2008, Jefferies pointed out in a recent note. The FHFA U.S. house price index rose by an average of 7.4 percent in the year prior to a recession and prices rose an average of 2.7 percent from the start of a recession to the end, the note stated.
