According to a Reuters survey of private economists, 620,000 job losses are projected for April.
The Labor Department report is due out on Friday at 8:30 AM EST.
In just the past five months, nearly 3 million jobs have been lost and the "real" unemployment rate has surged to 15.6%.
The problem for the housing market is that the job losses continue to complicate a housing recovery. As more Americans lose their jobs, more homes are at risk of going into foreclosure and adding to the already bloated supply of houses. Additionally, as more people lose their jobs, there are fewer and fewer qualified buyers that are able to buy a home for the first time.
The result is that the supply and demand imbalance for real estate is only going to get more pronounced as job losses continue to mount.
As I have been writing about for several months, the most effective way to combat the effects of rising unemployment on the housing market is to provide incentives for Americans to invest in real estate. Relying on first time home buyers to drive a housing market recovery is going to be a very long and painful process and the longer it takes the more damage will be done to the banking system and the broader economy.
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