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The Latest Numbers were just released from Realtor.Com on COVID-19’s impact on the national residential real estate market. The data tracked is for the month of March which not surprisingly changed significantly over thirty-one days. Listen to Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com. “The month started out to be a strong Spring buying season which is what we expected. The impact of COVID-19 materialized in the latter half of March. Week by week we are seeing decreases in new listings,” Hale explains. It’s no surprise sellers who don’t have to sell right now are rethinking listing their homes.
Buyers who aren’t under pressure to purchase a home are also pulling back. Inventory declines, a key market indicator also slowing. “We are seeing buyers hesitating as much as sellers now. In February we had lots of buyers out there actively looking and not enough inventory,” Hale recalls.
Here’s what some of the number crunching, realtor.com did for March looks like. The number of homes for sale declined 15.7 percent year-over-year. Despite the decline the national median listing price grew 3.8 percent to $320,000. When realtor.com looked at the weekly data including the last two weeks of March as the COVID-crisis hit more parts of the county, listing prices growing at the slowest paces for 2020. “The data is constantly evolving as we look at weekly numbers,” Hale notes.
The most up to date research clearly shows declines in homebuyer interest. According to realtor.com in the weeks ending March 21 and March 28, newly listed properties decreased by 13.1 percent and 34.0 percent, compared to the year before. This supports recent surveys conducted by realtor.com pointing to declining interest for potential buyers and sellers.
Let’s look at specific markets around the country. The metros which saw the largest declines in inventory were Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz. (-42.2 percent); Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis. (-36.2 percent); and San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif. (-33.4%). The only area showing positive inventory increases was Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. at 3.6 percent.
Metros with steepest price declines were Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas (-2.7 percent); Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis. (-1.4 percent); and Houston-The Woodlands-Sugarland, Texas (-1.4 percent).
Hale cites dynamics of the market for buyers as positive. “For people that have to buy right now they are more likely to get a good deal since there are fewer people out there.” Conversely sellers who must sell know this and must respond to these current real time market dynamics.