Coronavirus pandemic to slam Australia’s housing market

Shadow Housing Minister Jason Clare has told Sky News the coronavirus will trigger a massive downturn in the housing market. “You’ve got people at the moment who might’ve been talking about building a new house or buying their first house, then coronavirus hits, you lose your job, confidence is down and you’re less likely to buy a house,” he said. “And that’s exactly what’s happening now. The housing industry says people aren’t signing contracts and the impact of that is fewer houses are going to be built this year than originally predicted.” Mr Clare said the housing industry originally predicted 160,000 new homes would be built this year and that prediction had since dropped to 100,000. “That means a lot of tradies could lose their jobs and this is an industry that employs about a million people,” he said. Via news.com.au — Australia’s #1 news site https://www.news.com.au