The days of prospective buyers showing up in droves for home viewings, a phenomenon seen across the country during the pandemic, may be over.
Home showings declined again year-over-year in June, according to recent data from ShowingTime’s Showing Index®, a monthly data tracker, which will be welcome news to house hunters concerned about fierce competition. But, even though showings were down 18.7% from last year, activity was still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels.
This dip in showings, the latest indicator that the housing market is in the process of cooling down, was not uniform across all regions. The West experienced a 44.1% drop, while the Northeast, where three cities in Connecticut ranked among the Top 10 performers nationally, fared comparatively well with only a 10.9% reduction in viewings. The Midwest and the South sustained more middling decreases of 16.7% and 25.9%, respectively.
Burlington, Vermont, a small, lakeside city 40 miles from the Canadian border, led every market in showings per listing for the second consecutive month. The New England city is also one of the only markets where showings per listing increased significantly year-over-year.
Top 25 markets by performance:
Burlington, Vermont
Ratio of showings to listings (StL): 13.58
Year-over-year change (YoY): 9%
Month-over-month change (MoM): -14%
Rochester, New York
StL: 10.18
YoY: -16%
MoM: -11%
Cleveland, Ohio
StL: 10.16
YoY: -18%
MoM: -15%
Richmond, Virginia
StL: 9.96
YoY: -15%
MoM: -16%
Hartford, Connecticut
StL: 9.85
YoY: 1%
MoM: -13%
New Haven, Connecticut
StL: 9.82
YoY: -4%
MoM: -13%
Bridgeport, Connecticut
StL: 9.73
YoY: -9%
MoM: -19%
Akron, Ohio
StL: 9.71
YoY: -17%
MoM: -18%
Manchester, New Hampshire
StL: 9.41
YoY: -25%
MoM: -9%
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
StL: 9.27
YoY: -2%
MoM: -25%
Grand Rapids, Michigan
StL: 9.26
YoY: -24%
MoM: -18%
Dallas, Texas
StL: 9.24
YoY: -30%
MoM: -16%
Kansas City, Missouri
StL: 9.22
YoY: -18%
MoM: -11%
Virginia Beach, Virginia
StL: 9.18
YoY: -16%
MoM: -14%
Buffalo, New York
StL: 9.17
YoY: -22%
MoM: -13%
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
StL: 9.02
YoY: -1%
MoM: -12%
Tulsa, Oklahoma
StL: 9.01
YoY: -9%
MoM: -12%
Trenton, New Jersey
StL: 9.00
YoY: -13%
MoM: -19%
Baltimore, Maryland
StL: 8.92
YoY: -21%
MoM: -16%
Washington, D.C.
StL: 8.89
YoY: -20%
MoM: -12%
Columbia, South Carolina
StL: 8.85
YoY: -23%
MoM: -14%
Toledo, Ohio
StL: 8.85
YoY: 1%
MoM: -13%
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
StL: 8.83
YoY: 2%
MoM: -9%
Appleton, Wisconsin
StL: 8.82
YoY: -4%
MoM: -13%
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
StL: 8.82
YoY: -13%
MoM: -11%
The takeaway:
“Most markets are experiencing a slowdown in buyer activity, especially compared to the historically high traffic seen last year,” said ShowingTime Vice President and General Manager Michael Lane, in a release. “While summer is a slower time of year for real estate compared to spring, the dip we’re seeing compared to last June suggests this slowing is more about a rebalancing of an overheated market than just marking the end of the home shopping season.”
