Friday, May 22, 2020

Coronavirus and the Housing Market

Wondering how the coronavirus is affecting the housing market? The news is not good. Sales of existing homes fell 17.8 percent in April, and were 17.2 percent lower than April 2019, according to the National Association of Realtors. The drop in closings is the largest one-month decline since July 2010.

That puts the annualized pace at 4.33 million units sold, the slowest sales rate since September 2011. The supply of homes for sale fell 19.7 percent annually to 1.47 million units for sale at the end of April. That is the lowest April inventory figure ever.

The drop in inventory pushed prices to a new high. The median price of an existing home sold in April rose 7.4 percent annually to $286,800. That record does not account for inflation, but in nominal terms, it's a record high.

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