CoStar released its Pandemic Recovery Dashboard in 2021 to show data-based evidence of how the economy and other financial trends are recovering since the beginning of the pandemic.
The pandemic economic recovery report covers data from several reputable sources including Oxford Economics, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp, and The Conference Board, and shows trends in areas such as pandemic restrictions, unemployment claims, mortgage rates, office usage, and more.
Pandemic Economic Recovery Tracker
This interactive tracker illustrates an overall picture of recovery in areas such as Health, Demand, Employment, Production, Mobility, and Finance, from February 2020 through present.
Pandemic Restrictions
The pandemic restrictions graph in the report shows the Covid-19 Stringency Index, which was at its highest in the US in November 2020 but has since eased slowly.
Unemployment Claims
After a peak in April 2020, unemployment claims dropped sharply over the next few months, then gradually leveled off with a consistent and gradual downward trend over the last year.
Mortgage Rates
After a brief spike in March 2020 and a short upward trend earlier this year, mortgage rates are trending downward and are at historic lows.
Office Usage
A dramatic drop in office usage took place in March 2020 and has risen slowly since, but usage is only about 20%-40% of pre-pandemic levels, depending on location.
Travel & Hospitality
The report also includes trends in the travel and hospitality sectors such as hotel occupancy, US domestic air travel, dining in restaurants. Air travel was down over 90% in the first months of the pandemic and has been slow to recover, reaching a peak of -20% this summer then improving slightly in August. Hotel occupancy has seen a similar trend to air travel but has been able to reach pre-pandemic levels again. Restaurant occupancy dropped almost 100% in the first year of the pandemic but has been able to recover to just under pre-pandemic levels.
Consumer Confidence
The Consumer Confidence Index, which measures consumers’ general confidence in economic activity, continues to improve, recently reaching close to pre-pandemic levels.
Key Takeaways
Pandemic recovery has perhaps been slower than initially expected but in many areas is at or just below pre-pandemic levels. This lowers the risk for new business initiatives and has created a more stable market.
To view all the interactive data graphs, you can view the full pandemic recovery dashboard here.
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