Demand for new listing continue to increase every week, exceeding supply in most states
The US housing market has started to recuperate from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from HouseCanary that looks into supply of property listing and transaction volume.
Compared to pre-coronavirus data, new listings for single-family detached homes nationwide were down 33.7%. However, listing volume was 5.4% above its lowest level during the outbreak in mid-April.
Weekly contract volume was also plunging at a 13.3% rate in April. But as states begin to loosen shelter-in-place orders in May, consumers tried to find ways to complete transactions and pick up where they left off.
“Although HouseCanary data continues to show an overall decrease in new listing volume compared to volumes before the onset of COVID-19 stay-home and shelter-in-place measures, we are starting to see early signs of recovery over the past two weeks,” said Jeremy Sicklick, co-founder and CEO of HouseCanary. “Wide-sweeping closures of city and county offices continue to push volumes well below norms for this time of the year, but it looks like market participants are finding ways to complete transactions, and we are seeing some activity return.”
Twenty-seven of 46 states reported seeing more properties entering contracts than supply of new listings. The report also showed that contract volume had been steadily rising since April, 33.3% above its lowest level during the week ending April 10.
The national inventory of single-family detached homes is down 6.1%. Over the past five weeks, available inventory has remained relatively stable as contract activity halted during the pandemic.
Year-over-year, median list price-per-square-foot for all single-family detached homes were still up in most states, except for New York and New Jersey, where coronavirus cases continue to skyrocket. New Jersey saw the largest decline at 4.8%.
