HouseCanary, a ReferralExchange partner, has published its Market Pulse report for the month of September, 2020. In short, markets across the country continue to navigate the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic, with limited available inventory continuing to maintain a seller’s market in most states. Keep reading below to review more insights and highlights from the report.
There is a clear housing supply deficit across the country, despite the recently seen surge due to the pandemic. These purchase rates, however, will potentially begin to decline, with weekly new listings dropping 6.5% and net new listing declining at 7.2% week to week. On a larger scale, weekly new listing volume is down 26% nationwide when compared to the week ending March 13th.
This declining number of new listing has not necessarily led to a declining number of new contracts, however. Year to year comparisons show that although multiple factors have contributed to consumer preferences and purchasing ability, the change in cumulative listings under contract during the pandemic has maintained comparable to the same measure for 2019. In 2020, for the week ending March 13th through the week ending August 28th 1,646,563 listings moved under contract, while the measure for the same weeks in 2019 had a total of 1,649,560, a difference of only 2,997, or 0.2%.
Meanwhile, the number of new listings saw a much starker contrast in comparing 2019 and 2020. In 2020, 1,431,796 new listings went to market over this 25 week period, compared to 1,689,135 in 2019, a difference of 257,339. or 15.2%. These differences are illustrated in the graph below.
Price point seems to be one major factor in the difference of availability. When data was disaggregated based on price, the most substantial declines in new listing numbers were in price ranges between $0-$200K, and $200K- $400K. While net new listings in higher price ranges ($400-$600K, $600K-$1M, and $1M+) did not see substantial gains, the year to year decline was much less drastic. The below image visualizes net new listings, contracts, and net inventory, all separated by price tier.
Regarding median prices, variation was present across the country. although data was not available for every state, the median prices for newly listed properties the week of August 28th saw declines in most places (22 states), rises in some (16 states), and some unchanged (2 states). Check out the below graphic to see if data was available for your state and if their was any variation.
