While unemployment climbs to the highest rate in the United States since the Great Depression of the 1930s, experts predict that real estate prices may decline and not recover for years.

“We know that over 30 million people have lost their employment over just the last five, six weeks or so,” Lawrence White, professor of economics at New York University Stern School of Business, told VOA. “That means a weak market. That's got to mean lower prospective transaction prices.”

But for young people and others who have maintained good financial standing, the market may afford a unique opportunity to buy their first homes.

Even now, some millennials are taking advantage of lowered interest rates and motivated sellers — even if they are technically out of work.

“A lot of it was just budget,” said Stephanie Nusbaum, 30, who recently purchased her first home with her husband in Asheville, North Carolina.

Nusbaum and her husband have been furloughed from their jobs, meaning they maintain their health insurance and the promise of eventually going back to work, though they do not have an income now.

But they said that between their savings, a stimulus check from the government of $1,200 per person, and unemployment benefits, they are confident that buying was the right decision for them.

“Our mortgage payment is actually less than our rent payment that we were making,” Nusbaum said, noting that their parents helped them with their down payment.

Millennials are often criticized and stereotyped for not buying homes or following other social norms of their parents’ generations.

But some real estate agents say they have noted that young buyers are just more cautious about making an investment unless they are sure it will be worth it.

“They came of age during a time where economically, it was very difficult,” said Tanya Salseth, a real estate agent in Washington, D.C., referring to the 2008 financial crisis. “And for that reason, I think they are almost better in tune with sort of the financials of a purchase, right? So, they are really looking at numbers, and they asked a lot of questions about, well, what is this property? What can it rent for?”

Defying all stereotypes, Courtney DeGennaro Robinson just bought her second home in Asheville, North Carolina, during the pandemic.

“The thing a lot of our peers don't necessarily realize is that it's not necessarily as unattainable as we sometimes feel like it is,” she said.

“When we started the process for our first home, I thought with our credit and our income, there's no way that we're going to be able to get approved for a loan. But there are actually a lot more programs out there for people our age,” she said, noting state-specific first-time home buyer credits.

Though she did note that buying a house under current circumstances was a bit different from her first experience.

“There were a lot of anxieties around, like, are we going to be able to have movers help us move? Our original plan was to just have friends and family come over and help us move our belongings and that became … not an option,” she said.

Though there are many questions around how the COVID-19 pandemic will change the real estate market across the United States, White of NYU notes that a big question will be where people, especially younger first-time home buyers, will choose to buy.

He says young home buyers have preferred urban areas to the suburbs where they grew up.

“There's a real open question about whether this trend will continue,” White said.

“Once we've made it through this pandemic, are people going to say, ‘Yeah, no, I just don't want to be in a high-density, urban area. That's the place where pandemics spread and spread rapidly. I want more open spaces,’” he said.

White likened this time to the real estate market immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, when many experts predicted that more homes would be purchased away from crowded cities.

“They were predicting there was going to be a … weakening of property values, fewer people wanting to live in the five boroughs, especially in Manhattan, especially in lower Manhattan,” White said.

Six months after the attacks, Manhattan’s real estate market regained a sense of normalcy and enjoyed a boom until last year.

The administration of President Donald Trump said on Monday it will review Columbia University's federal contracts and grants over allegations of antisemitism, which it says the educational institution has shown inaction in tackling.

Rights advocates note rising antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since U.S. ally Israel's devastating military assault on Gaza began after Palestinian Hamas militants' deadly October 2023 attack.

The Justice Department said a month ago it formed a task force to fight antisemitism. The U.S. Departments of Health and Education and the General Services Administration jointly made the review announcement on Monday.

"The Federal Government's Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is considering Stop Work Orders for $51.4 million in contracts between Columbia University and the Federal Government," the joint statement said.

The agencies said no contracting actions had been taken yet.

"The task force will also conduct a comprehensive review of the more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to Columbia University."

The agencies did not respond to requests for comment on whether there were similar reviews over allegations of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias.

Columbia had no immediate comment. It previously said it made efforts to tackle antisemitism.

College protests

Trump has signed an executive order to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.

Columbia was at the center of college protests in which demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel due to the humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's assault on Gaza. There were allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia in protests and counter-protests.

During last summer's demonstrations around the country, classes were canceled, some university administrators resigned and student protesters were suspended and arrested.

While the intensity of protests has decreased in recent months, there were some demonstrations last week in New York after the expulsion of two students at Columbia University-affiliated Barnard College and after New York Governor Kathy Hochul ordered the removal of a Palestinian studies job listing at Hunter College.

A third student at Barnard College has since been expelled, this one related to the occupation of the Hamilton Hall building at Columbia last year.

The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.

It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.

In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.

Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.

Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.

"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.

An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."

House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."

Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.

Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.

The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.

"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."

The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.

STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)

U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.

Read the full story here. (January 2025)