Oh my goodness what a crazy year! In March, when the pandemic began to take hold, we expected that the economy would struggle and housing demand would retract as a result. The economy did struggle and is still struggling, and in fact housing demand did decrease in the second quarter of the year. However the second half of 2020 has been anything but slow. Demand for housing in Granada Hills has been as high as ever and values are up 5-7% over 2019 prices.
I still predict that we will see some increase in foreclosure activity some time in the next year. Even with prices increasing, high unemployment will inevitably lead to some amount of unpaid mortgage debt. The magnitude of this effect is the unknown factor; it could have little to no pull on pricing if demand stays strong and the number of foreclosures remains low. But if supply exceeds demand, it would certainly result in softer pricing.
2021 will be an interesting year – I do believe that consumer spending and the economy will experience strong growth once we have sufficient vaccination rates. It’s impossible to predict what exactly will happen with Granada Hills real estate values in 2021, but long term, housing in this neighborhood should make a solid investment for decades to come.