Realtor.com® Weekly Housing Report: Buyers and Sellers Jump Back in Post Election

Home prices begin to show a seasonal slowdown; what's ahead for housing depends on the impact of COVID-19

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Nov 19, 2020, 06:00 ET

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Buyers and sellers quickly jumped back into the market this week after taking a break during election week, according to realtor.com's Weekly Housing Report for the week ending Nov 14. Despite the resumed interest, home prices are finally showing signs of a seasonal slowdown gaining only 12.6% this week compared to 12.9% the previous week.

"We typically see fewer buyers and sellers in the market toward the end of the year, as families are busy with children in school and holiday celebrations. Although we still have a fast-moving housing market relative to this time last year, we're starting to see some slowing from the late-summer/fall and movement towards more normal seasonality. What happens next depends on this resurgence of COVID-19. In the spring, we saw that the more coronavirus cases a market had, the less likely sellers were to put their homes on the market. If we are able to contain the spread, sales activity will likely slow somewhat in line with normal seasonality, but otherwise we may see a more abrupt slowdown. "

Home prices remain near summer highs but are finally showing signs of a slowdown

Median listing prices grew at 12.6% over last year, marking the 14th consecutive week of double-digit price growth. The fact that median listing price growth declined slightly this week suggests that the median asking price is finally moving down from its summer peak of $350,000.

Sellers resumed listing homes as they were before the election

New listings were down 7%, an improvement from last week's 12% decline. With fewer home purchases in seasonally slower months, week to week fluctuations in the data can be magnified. The past few weeks suggest that the trend in newly listed homes has worsened slightly from mid-October. Looking forward, there could be a small step back in home sales activity in the months ahead. Earlier in the year, we found that new listings growth was tied closely to coronavirus spread. If that underlying relationship remains, rising coronavirus cases could be a challenge for the housing market in the weeks ahead.

Lack of homes for sale is keeping us in a seller's market

Five straight weeks at 38 percent yearly declines in the total number of homes on the market suggests that improvements in the trend of new sellers and buyers have not shifted our current sellers market.
With limited homes available for sale, those that are on the market continue to sell faster than last year, by roughly 2 weeks. For 8 weeks now, we've seen homes sell 13 or 14 days faster than last year. As we discussed last week, we typically see a big increase in time on market before the end of November. Thus, steady decreases in days on market could indicate that we are finally seeing a bit of a seasonal slowdown.

Housing market remains strong as buyer and seller activity bounce back

Realtor.com^® tracks the overall strength of the housing market through its proprietary Housing Market Recovery Index, which compares real-time key indicators including trends in number of searches on realtor.com^®, median listing prices, the number of newly listed homes, and the time it takes to sell to January 2020, prior to the pandemic.
The realtor.com Housing Market Recovery Index increased to 110.7 nationwide for the week ending Nov. 14, 10.7 points above the pre-COVID baseline and an increase of 2.7 points over the prior week. After seeing growth in demand and supply lose momentum earlier in the month, the pace seems to be back on track but still following the seasonal slowdown.

Metro	Median Listing Price YoY	Total Listings YoY	Median Days on Market YoY
Akron, Ohio	9.9%	-51.9%	12 days faster
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.	13.8%	-37.8%	15 days faster
Albuquerque, N.M.	14.9%	-46.3%	14 days faster
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J.	14.1%	-50.6%	21 days faster
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga.	8.2%	-46.1%	10 days faster
Augusta-Richmond County, Ga.-S.C.	7.7%	-51.0%	29 days faster
Austin-Round Rock, Texas	19.2%	-51.3%	13 days faster
Bakersfield, Calif.	17.6%	-46.7%	18 days faster
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md.	1.6%	-52.8%	13 days faster
Baton Rouge, La.	13.7%	-39.7%	10 days faster
Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.	0.5%	-34.6%	18 days faster
Boise City, Idaho	21.9%	-72.3%	13 days faster
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.	12.8%	-25.6%	14 days faster
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.	0.0%	-26.7%	36 days faster
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y.	10.6%	-47.1%	10 days slower
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.	9.4%	-42.1%	7 days faster
Charleston-North Charleston, S.C.	14.5%	-44.9%	25 days faster
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.	10.4%	-48.1%	14 days faster
Chattanooga, Tenn.-Ga.	8.7%	-50.6%	11 days faster
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.	9.1%	-31.8%	8 days faster
Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.	15.3%	-42.7%	11 days faster
Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio	6.5%	-47.0%	16 days faster
Colorado Springs, Colo.	9.0%	-56.4%	16 days faster
Columbia, S.C.	9.3%	-49.4%	17 days faster
Columbus, Ohio	12.7%	-47.6%	12 days faster
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas	5.9%	-48.5%	10 days faster
Dayton, Ohio	11.8%	-44.3%	14 days faster
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.	6.4%	-43.7%	12 days faster
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.	4.4%	-45.5%	8 days faster
Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa	4.3%	-31.3%	11 days faster
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich	9.6%	-47.2%	8 days faster
Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.	14.0%	-45.3%	16 days faster
El Paso, Texas	19.1%	-48.7%	5 days faster
Fresno, Calif.	9.2%	-57.9%	13 days faster
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich	7.1%	-47.8%	5 days faster
Greensboro-High Point, N.C.	-1.9%	-50.8%	17 days faster
Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, S.C.	3.4%	-40.5%	10 days faster
Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.	15.2%	-57.9%	7 days faster
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.	8.7%	-29.8%	22 days faster
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas	9.8%	-32.5%	13 days faster
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.	3.5%	-44.9%	14 days faster
Jackson, Miss.	16.1%	-49.1%	21 days faster
Jacksonville, Fla.	1.0%	-46.8%	12 days faster
Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.	10.0%	-46.6%	14 days faster
Knoxville, Tenn.	10.5%	-50.3%	22 days faster
Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.	7.6%	-27.5%	11 days faster
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.	7.6%	-17.9%	10 days faster
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, Ark.	19.4%	-60.9%	16 days faster
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.	16.3%	-18.0%	12 days faster
Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind.	0.0%	-47.5%	16 days faster
Madison, Wis.	4.3%	-43.8%	17 days faster
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas	15.4%	-41.1%	25 days faster
Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.	12.8%	-51.4%	12 days faster
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla.	0.2%	-18.0%	1 day slower
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.	3.6%	-39.9%	11 days faster
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.	0.9%	-30.3%	8 days faster
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, Tenn.	7.6%	-46.8%	9 days faster
New Haven-Milford, Conn.	11.2%	-24.7%	25 days faster
New Orleans-Metairie, La.	15.8%	-38.3%	7 days faster
New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.	11.2%	-4.6%	5 days slower
North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.	1.6%	-40.5%	13 days faster
Oklahoma City, Okla.	6.0%	-41.7%	5 days faster
Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa	5.5%	-45.4%	1 day slower
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.	1.6%	-21.6%	No change
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.	7.9%	-47.6%	9 days faster
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla.	3.4%	-40.9%	8 days faster
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.	15.3%	-40.3%	13 days faster
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.	10.5%	-42.5%	8 days faster
Pittsburgh, Pa.	24.1%	-39.5%	11 days faster
Portland-South Portland, Maine	10.7%	-45.1%	30 days faster
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash.	11.6%	-42.9%	10 days faster
Providence-Warwick, R.I.-Mass.	6.4%	-50.7%	14 days faster
Raleigh, N.C.	6.3%	-48.1%	18 days faster
Richmond, Va.	12.9%	-47.9%	7 days faster
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.	15.9%	-53.9%	14 days faster
Rochester, N.Y.	15.0%	-41.3%	13 days faster
Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, Calif.	15.2%	-46.3%	18 days faster
Salt Lake City, Utah	17.3%	-52.7%	13 days faster
San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas	4.5%	-40.7%	12 days faster
San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.	9.9%	-21.8%	2 days slower
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.	10.2%	9.1%	3 days faster
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.	10.4%	-1.5%	14 days faster
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, Pa.	15.6%	-50.8%	36 days faster
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.	8.6%	-36.7%	7 days faster
Spokane-Spokane Valley, Wash.	7.1%	-50.8%	8 days faster
Springfield, Mass.	14.6%	-43.5%	18 days faster
St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.	9.1%	-38.9%	14 days faster
Stockton-Lodi, Calif.	5.4%	-64.4%	8 days faster
Syracuse, N.Y.	9.8%	-43.7%	7 days faster
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.	7.3%	-42.8%	13 days faster
Toledo, Ohio	0.0%	-43.0%	11 days faster
Tucson, Ariz.	10.5%	-45.0%	7 days faster
Tulsa, Okla.	8.0%	-39.5%	9 days faster
Urban Honolulu, Hawaii	-8.1%	27.2%	2 days faster
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C.	5.0%	-46.8%	23 days faster
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W. Va.	5.2%	-34.2%	10 days faster
Wichita, Kan.	9.8%	-35.4%	15 days faster
Winston-Salem, N.C.	0.4%	-48.2%	19 days faster
Worcester, Mass.-Conn.	9.1%	-51.0%	25 days faster
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.	16.7%	-52.7%	24 days faster

Link to Weekly Stats Blog Post:
https://www.realtor.com/research/weekly-housing-trends-view-data-week-nov-14-2020/

Link to Index Commentary Blog Post: https://www.realtor.com/research/housing-market-recovery-index-trends-nov-14-data/

Methodology: The Weekly Housing Index leverages a weighted average of realtor.com® search traffic, median list prices, new listings, and median time on market and compares it to the January 2020 market trend, as a baseline for pre-COVID market growth. The overall index is set to 100 in this baseline period. The higher a market's index value, the higher its recovery and vice versa.

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