Housing market activity declined last week as nation focused on presidential election
Housing market activity declined last week as the nation focused its attention on the presidential election and surging coronavirus cases.
Figures from realtor.com showed that new listings were down 12% for the week ending November 7 from the previous week’s decrease of 9%.
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However, the report also found that prices and the pace of sales continued to hold steady -- further evidence that the housing market isn’t slowing down any time soon.
Listing prices extended their streak of double-digit growth for the 13th consecutive week, up 12.9% over last year. And last week was the seventh week in a row that homes were selling 13 or 14 days faster than last year.
According to realtor.com, this could be a “good indication that buyers have no intention of taking the holidays off this year.”
“Between the presidential election and a new wave of coronavirus cases, buyers and sellers had a lot of reasons to pause last week,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at realtor.com. “The big question is whether both buyers and sellers will jump back into the market after last week's break. With mortgage rates expected to rise on news of a likely vaccine, buyers may have reason to jump back in and find a home sooner rather than later, but sellers may be more inclined to stay on hold. Thus, even as overall activity slows, we may very well see continued price growth and quick sales.”
