To keep up with the rapid changes COVID-19 is having on the economy and housing market, the realtor.com® economics team provides a weekly video update on the relevant real estate and economic information you need to know to navigate the housing market in these challenging times.

This week, Senior Economist George Ratiu talks about the IMF’s updated global economic forecast for 2020, as well as the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s latest update to GDP. He also mentions the rebound in durable goods orders and the latest jobless claims numbers, which highlight lingering concerns about the economic recovery.

George offers an overview of this week’s housing data, including realtor.com® trends on new listings, sourced from the Weekly Housing Trends View. He also highlights new research from Economic Data Analyst Nicolas Bedo, pointing to a rebound in the luxury real estate segment. George talks about the continuing decline in inventory and drop in existing home sales, as well as the acceleration in asking prices. At the same time, consumers’ shifting preferences toward suburban markets and smaller towns are driving demand for new homes. He wraps up his remarks by mentioning that mortgage rates moved sideways this week, while mortgage applications declined.