The White House’s March jobs report showed encouraging job growth one year after the first pandemic-related unemployment claims. Still, the Biden administration says the economy remains down nearly 8.5 million jobs year over year. It’s expected to take at least through the end of 2021 — and maybe a lot longer — to get back to pre-pandemic levels.
That means there are still millions of unemployed Americans, and when employment is uncertain, so is income. Uncertain borrower income spells risk for lenders and investors, who tend to respond by tightening their underwriting guidelines. This seems sensible — but it also has unintended consequences.
Read the full article in HousingWire by Brent Chandler.