As the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted homeowners to stay at home, homeowners have reported spending more time baking and cooking, which has spurred remodeling dreams centered on the kitchen, the survey finds. Also, homeowners have turned their homes into multi-use spaces for working at home and exercising. Gym equipment sales statistics on Houzz are nearly eight times higher compared to the months prior to the pandemic. Also, home office furniture sales are 1.7 times greater than before the pandemic.

The Small Business Administration and U.S. Treasury Department have released an application for business owners to have their Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiven. Real estate professional who received a PPP loan should complete and submit the application, which was released Friday, to their PPP lender.

The program was created through the CARES Act to provide forgivable loans to eligible small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The PPP is a way to offer financial aid to small businesses and incentivize them to keep employees on their payrolls. The SBA outlines the form and instructions, including some of the following measures:

• Options for borrowers to calculate payroll costs using an “alternative payroll covered period” that aligns with borrowers’ regular payroll cycles.
• Flexibility to include eligible payroll and nonpayroll expenses paid or incurred during the eight-week period covered by the PPP loan.
• Instructions on how to perform the calculations required by the CARES Act to confirm eligibility for loan forgiveness.
• Borrower-friendly implementation of statutory exemptions from loan forgiveness reduction based on rehiring by June 30.
• Addition of a new exemption for borrowers who have made a good-faith, written offer to rehire workers that was declined.

Mortgage financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced that homeowners in forbearance can request payment deferrals and tack any missed payments on to the end of their loan term, without penalty or added interest.

Under forbearance, homeowners are still required to repay any missed payments. But the government-sponsored enterprises made clear in an announcement Wednesday that borrowers do not have to repay them all at once.

Freddie Mac stated that borrowers taking one of its mortgage deferral solutions will be able to eventually resume their monthly mortgage payment to its pre–COVID-19 amount by adding up to 12 months of missed payments—including escrow advances—to the end of the mortgage term. Borrowers will not accrue any extra interest or late fees. Its solution is effective July 1, the date when mortgage servicers will begin to evaluate homeowners with resolved COVID-19–related hardships for eligibility.

“Our main focus continues to be finding new and innovative ways to help borrowers and their families during this pandemic,” says Donna Corley, executive vice president and head of Freddie Mac’s single-family business. “Our payment deferral solution adds another tool to our toolbox to help homeowners pick up where they left off once they’ve recovered from a short-term financial hardship.”

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are allowing homeowners affected financially by the COVID-19 pandemic to pause their mortgage payments for up to a full year through forbearance. By the start of May, nearly 4 million homeowners had taken advantage of the government’s or a bank’s mortgage forbearance program, according to data from Black Knight, a mortgage analytics firm.

As Forbearance Confusion Persists, Help Set Owners Straight

Loan servicers are to reach out about 30 days before a borrower’s initial forbearance plan is to end to determine what type of repayment plan is needed.

Fannie Mae says that homeowners will have several options to pay back missed payments, including rolling the payments to the end of their mortgage as well as repaying in full—if they wish to—or setting up a repayment plan to gradually catch up.

Fannie and Freddie also said loan modifications could be possible depending on the borrower’s situation.

The National Association of REALTORS® applauded the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s move to deliver greater certainty to homeowners who need to take forbearance. This move offers “solutions and some much-needed certainty to the millions of U.S. families facing unemployment and unsure how they will cover next month’s bills,” says Vince Malta, NAR’s president. “This flexibility will be invaluable for American consumers as we begin to emerge from this crisis and restart our economy.”

To determine whether a loan is owned by one of the GSEs, visit Fannie’s lookup tool or Freddie Mac’s lookup tool.

Homebuilders want to turn buyers on to new-home construction, and they’re willing to sweeten the pot to do so. More builders reportedly are offering discounts or offering free upgrades—like new appliances—or covering closing costs to attract buyers.

Most of these incentives appear to be targeted at new homes or developments already in the works. “Builders with standing inventory will seek to sell it as quickly as they can,” says Robert Dietz, chief economist with the National Association of Home Builders.

Dietz estimates that builders have about 80,000 completed inventory homes ready for buyers nationwide. He also estimates an extra 540,000 homes in some stage of construction.

Sales of new-homes dropped 9.5% in March compared to a year earlier. Dietz expects new-home sales to continue to slow due to climbing unemployment.

“The market is on pause,” Dietz told realtor.com®. “Incentives will be used to offset prices as we see a surge in unemployment.”

Builders are offering different degrees of incentives. For example, the homebuilder Drees Homes is offering discounts in some locales, such as $1,000 for buyers who sign a contract by the end of May or an extra $5,000 toward closing costs for those who book a tour virtually or in person. They’re also offering in some markets up to $10,000 toward outdoor amenities such as kitchens and entertaining areas.

“Right now, we are just encouraging buyers. We’re still here, and we’re open for business,” Alicia Engelking, marketing director for Drees Homes in Houston, told realtor.com®.

Neals Communities, selling in communities on the west coast of Florida, began offering to waive closing costs for up to $18,000 on 80 of its homes that were finished or are currently under construction.

The builder Kenco is discounting up to $50,000 on some of its completed home inventory priced between $600,000 and $1 million.

Builders like Lennar Corp. and Ryan Homes are reportedly offering $7,500 in closing costs on new homes. Lennar is also offering an extra $5,000 to $10,000 off its selling price in some markets. Its mortgage company is touting 2.7% interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages for select homes (Freddie Mac reports the national average is 3.26%, for comparison).

In Wellington, Fla., three builders are offering discounts in a planned “agrihood” community accompanying a 5-acre working farm. “It’s a buyer’s opportunity to get a great price,” Susan Moguel, Arden’s marketing director, told realtor.com®.