Despite continued challenges from the coronavirus pandemic, the real estate markets continue to show signs of recovery. Realtor.com® recently launched a Housing Recovery Index, which measures the market’s rebound, weighing averages of search traffic, median list prices, new listings, median time on market, and more—the higher the index value, the higher the recovery.
“By combining online search activity along with price and supply dynamics, the Index functions as a robust leading indicator of housing activity, and a symptom gauge as we move toward healthier market conditions,” said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com®.
For the week ending June 6, the Index was at 88.8 nationwide—11.2 points under the January baseline but 1.0 higher over the previous week.
Here’s the market breakdown for the week ending June 6:
New Listings: -21 percent YoY
Median Listing Prices: +4.3 YoY
Total Listings: -25 percent YoY
Days on Market: 16 days slower YoY
New listings showed a slight improvement over the previous week, as well as a “significant” improvement compared to early May’s 30 percent declines YoY, according to the data. In addition, price gains have fully caught up to the pre-COVID pace. In terms of inventory, sellers are still catching up, says realtor.com, and while days on market (DoM) are two weeks longer YoY, numbers may be trending toward recovery as DoM showed improvement over the previous week.
“The general sentiment from consumer surveys is that now is not a good time to sell a home because of COVID, economic uncertainty and social unrest, but the data is saying the opposite,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist for realtor.com. “Home prices are back to their pre-COVID pace and we’re seeing listings spend slightly less time on the market than last week. But the housing market still needs more sellers in order to meet the surge in demand. Looking forward, if we don’t get the inventory we need, we’ll see prices rise even more and homes sell faster later this summer.”
For more information, please visit www.realtor.com.
