Home Prices Fall, US Treasury Borrows $3 Trillion Dollars
Also: a new ipad device tests for COVID19
As the US economy struggles to gain footing, other sectors within the business world are also affected by the Coronavirus. Home prices will fall 2–3% this year, Zillow reports. During the Great Recession home prices hit their peak in ’06 and at the lowest in 2012.
Zillow is predicting that there is going to be around 50% to 60% decrease in home sales in 2020 versus 2019 sales data. Home sales are forecast to bottom out in Q2 and and ideally bounce back by 10% more every month starting in next year, in 2021.
The speed of recovery for real estate dips is going to be dependent on society’s ability to recover from COVID19 lockdowns. Which is going to be reliant on a successful partnership between medical authorities and state governments as the search for a cure continues.
US Treasury Borrows $3 Trillion to Stabilize Economy
In attempts to keep the US economy stable from the costs of social distancing and business shut downs the US Treasury Department stated last Monday that it’s borrowing around $3 trillion dollars this quarter.
The $3 trillion is going to subsidize economic recovery efforts such as the Paycheck Protection Program, Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL loan) and the $1200 dollar stimulus checks everyone except fathers paying child support received (the Attorney General seized this money to pay interest fees for back pay child support owed — robbing single fathers of the ability to recieve the same help everyone else in America received).
The social distancing efforts to halt the virus spread, with mandated closing of many brick and mortar stores have left hundreds of thousands unemployed and local businesses closing and strapped for income.
Ideally, if the stimulus money actually reaches the small businesses needing the most help with economic relief, instead of being funneled into the coffers of mega millionaire companies, then we can see a real boost to the US economy.
As it is, New York Times reported giant companies, such as Shake Shack and Ruth Chris’ Steak House, were responsible for draining the Payroll Protection fund in just a few days.
You may be wondering how giant chain store restaurants disguise themselves as a small company with less than 500 employees. They scammed the PPP loans by labeling each of their hundreds of franchise restaurants as small businesses.
On top of this Bank of America shuffled applications to prioritize giant companies first due to higher interest rates paid to the bank, on larger amounts bigger companies can borrow.
But, not all businesses are responding to the pandemic with money heists, some organizations like universities are working hard to create solutions.
Ipad Coronavirus Test
In other news, many are working hard on creating new innovative fixes to the scarcity of COVID19 tests. CNET reports that there is a new device being tested out from Northwest University in Chicago that detects the duration and time of coughs, testing for the onset and progression of the coronavirus.
It resembles a nicotine patch that smokers use to quit smoking and you put it on your throat. You leave it there and after the day is over, peel it off and place it on a wireless charger, which then syncs the patch to an iPad.
The iPad uploads the data to a HIPAA-compliant cloud, where an automated algorithm scans it for anomalies related to the coronavirus.
It also tests heart rate and temperature.
The device is still being going through clinical tests, Northwestern University has 25 volunteers wearing it for the past 2 weeks as of May 3th 2020 and the algorithm scans are being reviewed by humans for accuracy.
If this device and others like it are perfected, this can become a windfall in resuming life as normal as employees will be able to self test for the coronavirus and return to work if they are cleared.
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