Housing Supply Replenished as Real Estate Activity Disrupted
Economic Report Monitor #18
April 21th, 2020
Another quiet day of economic reports sees just March data for existing home sales released. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported an -8.5% drop in existing home sales. The drop represents significant cooling in the market, exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak, after year-over-year growth peaked in December 2019 with a gain of over 10.0%. The stalling of sales also marks a rebound in the housing supply that was shortening at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020. Despite the drop in existing home sales, the median price still increased by 8.0% from February to $280,600.
The NAR also reported on a flash survey taking the economic pulse of the real estate market conducted on April 12-13. The survey asked property managers and individual landlords about issues with tenants paying rent. About half, 46% of property managers and 59% of individual landlords, saw no issues with payments, and a majority of those who did see issues reported being accommodating, 41% and 24%. Only 4% and 5% reported terminating leases. As for house hunting, only 25% of respondents said nearly all aspects of the transactions can be done while social distancing with 35% saying some aspects still require person-to-person contact. Residential members have also reported a major disruption in the real estate market. Sixty percent of them plan on delaying the process for a couple of months with 90% of members seeing a decline in buyer interest. Overall, the report suggests lagging data will continue for a couple months and shouldn't see a bump until September -October (barring a fall resurgence).
April 21th, 2020
Another quiet day of economic reports sees just March data for existing home sales released. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported an -8.5% drop in existing home sales. The drop represents significant cooling in the market, exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak, after year-over-year growth peaked in December 2019 with a gain of over 10.0%. The stalling of sales also marks a rebound in the housing supply that was shortening at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020. Despite the drop in existing home sales, the median price still increased by 8.0% from February to $280,600.
The NAR also reported on a flash survey taking the economic pulse of the real estate market conducted on April 12-13. The survey asked property managers and individual landlords about issues with tenants paying rent. About half, 46% of property managers and 59% of individual landlords, saw no issues with payments, and a majority of those who did see issues reported being accommodating, 41% and 24%. Only 4% and 5% reported terminating leases. As for house hunting, only 25% of respondents said nearly all aspects of the transactions can be done while social distancing with 35% saying some aspects still require person-to-person contact. Residential members have also reported a major disruption in the real estate market. Sixty percent of them plan on delaying the process for a couple of months with 90% of members seeing a decline in buyer interest. Overall, the report suggests lagging data will continue for a couple months and shouldn't see a bump until September -October (barring a fall resurgence).
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