Showings are still declining but activity is stabilizing

The level of home showing activity reported by real estate agents and brokers continued to decline in July but the slide moderated.

The national decrease compared to a year earlier was 0.6%, the lowest decline in showing activity in the past 12 months according to the ShowingTime Showing Index.

While the West, MidWest, and South, all posted year-over-year decreases in showing activity, the Northeast bucked the national trend with a 2.7% increase, its largest rise since April 2018.

The other three regions saw smaller year-over-year declines compared to recent months; 4.1% in the West, 3.3% in the Midwest, and 1.1% in the South.

“Buyer traffic has a lot of seasonal variation, so we need to compare last year’s numbers to understand the trend,” said ShowingTime Chief Analytics Officer Daniil Cherkasskiy. “While spring buyer traffic per listing was down sharply compared to 2018, from April onward we've seen a steady rebound. In July, national traffic was already roughly in line with last year’s numbers, and if the current trend continues, listings on average could see more showings this fall than what we saw in the fall of 2018.”

Showing traffic last month was up again in the Northeast, while activity elsewhere continued to stabilize. Check out our July 2019 #ShowingIndex for details. #Showings https://t.co/EtpenMHniA

— ShowingTime (@ShowingTime) August 21, 2019