Realtor.com® Weekly Recovery Report: U.S. Housing Market has Recovered from the Initial Shock of COVID

Whether it can make up losses from the first half of the year has yet to be determined

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Jul 23, 2020, 06:00 ET

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Housing Market has recovered from the immediate disruption caused by the COVID pandemic and returned to January 2020 growth levels, according to realtor.com^® data for the week ending July 18. Despite this significant milestone, another few months of sustained growth and a significant increase in new listings are needed to make up for lost ground in the first half of the year.

For the first time since March 2020, the realtor.com^® Housing Recovery Index hit 101.0 points surpassing its pre-COVID recovery benchmark, clocking a 2.5 percent gain over last week. Demand from buyers recovered in early May, followed by price growth in early June. Now, the pace of sales has caught up to pre-COVID levels, too. Supply remains the critical missing piece. Growth in supply remains below normal seasonal pace, but continues to improve as buyers anxiously wait for more sellers to put fresh new homes on the market.

"There is no blueprint for a pandemic-induced recession, but this recovery milestone is further proof that homebuyers will persevere through the biggest of storms," said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com^®. "Housing remains a must-have during COVID times, and home sales have proven to flourish even under record low levels of supply. The spring season disruptions have given an artificial boost to the summer homebuying season, the real question will be whether the market will be able to sustain that pace through the rest of the summer and going into the fall."

Key Findings:

Local Recovery: Regionally, the Northeast (106.3) has overtaken all regions and now leads the recovery with the overall index now visibly above the pre-COVID benchmark. The West (105.5) remains above recovery pace and continues to improve, while the South (97.9) and Midwest (97.3) are still below recovery but regaining momentum toward recovery. Locally, half of the largest 50 markets in the country are now above the recovery benchmark, with the overall recovery index showing greatest recovery in Boston, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia and Denver.
New listings were down 15 percent year-over-year. The gradual improvement in the number of homes for sale continues, but it's not happening fast enough for hungry buyers. The next few weeks will be critical to see if more sellers jump back into the market and stop overall inventory from eroding further.
Total inventory was down 33 percent compared to last year. The improving new listings trend is still not enough to offset buyer demand as more home buyers aim to take advantage of record-low mortgage rates.
Median listing prices are now growing at 9.1 percent over last year, faster than the pre-COVID pace and the fastest pace since January 2018.
Time on market is now one day faster than last year as buyers out-number sellers and confidence is growing for both and the peak of the season extends into the summer.

Data Summary:

	Week ending July 18	Week ending July 11	Week ending July 4	First Two Weeks March
Total Listings	-33% YOY	-32% YOY	-31% YOY	-16% YOY
Time on Market	1 day faster YOY	1 day slower YOY	3 days slower YOY	4 days faster YOY
Median Listing Prices	+9.1% YOY	+7.9% YOY	+6.2% YOY	+4.5% YOY
New Listings	-15% YOY	-19% YOY	-4% YOY	+5% YOY

Rank	Metro	Recovery Index (Week Ending 7/18)	Recovery Index (Weekly Change)
1	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.	122.5	8.4
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.	113.7	-1.8
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.	112.7	4.6
4	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.	112.3	3.1
5	Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.	111.6	2.3
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.	109.2	3.1
7	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.	108.7	0.7
8	San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.	108.7	2.7
9	Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.	107.7	0.4
10	Rochester, N.Y.	106.6	3.1
11	Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.	105.9	11.7
12	Pittsburgh, Pa.	105.6	4.0
13	Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.	104.8	2.8
14	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.	104.3	5.9
15	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W. Va.	104.2	-1.5
16	Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C.	103.2	2.6
17	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.	103.2	3.4
18	Austin-Round Rock, Texas	103.1	-2.0
19	Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.	101.9	5.0
20	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.	101.3	-2.2
21	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, Tenn.	101.0	-1.1
22	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash.	100.8	1.4
23	Raleigh, N.C.	100.7	3.6
24	Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y.	100.6	4.7
25	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md.	100.5	0.1
26	New Orleans-Metairie, La.	100.0	5.0
27	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.	99.6	7.0
28	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.	99.1	0.0
29	Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio	99.0	3.2
30	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas	98.9	1.9
31	Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.	98.7	1.7
32	Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas	98.5	2.5
33	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.	97.9	2.3
34	St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.	97.8	3.0
35	Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind.	97.8	5.6
36	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.	97.7	0.4
37	San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas	96.8	2.2
38	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga.	96.8	3.6
39	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich	96.7	1.4
40	Jacksonville, Fla.	96.5	-1.0
41	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.	95.6	2.8
42	Richmond, Va.	94.1	0.4
43	Providence-Warwick, R.I.-Mass.	94.0	0.3
44	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla.	93.4	-1.0
45	Columbus, Ohio	92.4	-0.2
46	Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.	92.0	-3.8
47	Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, Calif.	90.7	-3.4
48	Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.	88.6	-3.5
49	Oklahoma City, Okla.	88.2	-0.2
50	Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.	84.6	-1.3

For more information on weekly listings data, please visit:

https://www.realtor.com/research/weekly-housing-trends-view-data-week-july-18-2020/

For more information on the weekly housing recovery index, please visit:

https://www.realtor.com/research/housing-market-recovery-index-trends-july-18-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.

cbsa_title	median_listing _price_yy	active_listing _count_yy	median_days _on_market _by_day_yy	median_days _on_market _yy	new_listing _count_yy	new_listing _share_yy	price_reduced _count_yy	price_reduced _share_yy
akron, oh	0.10%	-45.00%	-4	-8.50%	-19.40%	4.30%	-49.10%	-1.00%
albany-schenectady-troy, ny	14.40%	-38.60%	6	8.20%	-29.40%	1.10%	-54.60%	-1.80%
albuquerque, nm	19.10%	-50.00%	1	2.20%	-27.90%	4.10%	-57.20%	-1.80%
allentown-bethlehem-easton, pa-nj	21.80%	-57.10%	-29	-46.00%	-10.30%	7.80%	-54.20%	-0.10%
atlanta-sandy springs-roswell, ga	6.70%	-38.00%	-1	-2.00%	-20.00%	2.40%	-45.50%	-1.20%
augusta-richmond county, ga-sc	4.30%	-40.20%	-4	-6.20%	-3.40%	4.10%	-45.30%	-0.70%
austin-round rock, tx	8.10%	-34.60%	-5	-10.20%	-14.80%	2.70%	-47.50%	-2.10%
bakersfield, ca	9.20%	-48.50%	-6	-13.30%	-28.00%	3.70%	-64.30%	-2.40%
baltimore-columbia-towson, md	4.70%	-49.80%	-7	-14.00%	-27.10%	3.70%	-53.50%	-0.90%
baton rouge, la	6.40%	-24.30%	0	0.00%	11.10%	2.50%	-42.50%	-2.20%
birmingham-hoover, al	5.80%	-33.70%	-3	-5.10%	-28.10%	0.80%	-43.50%	-1.00%
boise city, id	6.90%	-49.00%	4	10.50%	-29.50%	4.10%	-51.90%	-0.90%
boston-cambridge-newton, ma-nh	12.50%	-30.70%	-12	-24.50%	20.30%	6.40%	-34.50%	-0.80%
bridgeport-stamford-norwalk, ct	0.70%	-22.00%	-28	-36.40%	36.10%	3.00%	-39.10%	-1.20%
buffalo-cheektowaga-niagara falls, ny	9.10%	-36.10%	2	5.40%	1.40%	6.00%	-60.00%	-3.80%
cape coral-fort myers, fl	13.40%	-27.90%	-8	-8.00%	1.60%	1.90%	-24.00%	0.20%
charleston-north charleston, sc	6.00%	-32.80%	-3	-4.10%	-11.30%	2.00%	-37.50%	-0.80%
charlotte-concord-gastonia, nc-sc	5.70%	-45.00%	-4	-7.80%	-26.90%	3.10%	-62.00%	-3.30%
chattanooga, tn-ga	17.00%	-45.80%	6	10.20%	-37.30%	1.20%	-54.90%	-1.50%
chicago-naperville-elgin, il-in-wi	5.80%	-32.40%	-2	-4.60%	-13.40%	2.60%	-37.30%	-0.90%
cincinnati, oh-ky-in	19.30%	-47.30%	-3	-6.10%	-24.10%	3.90%	-56.40%	-1.80%
cleveland-elyria, oh	14.60%	-47.30%	-3	-5.60%	-26.10%	3.70%	-50.50%	-0.90%
colorado springs, co	11.40%	-36.70%	3	9.40%	-15.70%	3.90%	-38.30%	-0.80%
columbia, sc	6.40%	-45.70%	-5	-10.20%	-31.60%	2.10%	-40.50%	0.50%
columbus, oh	4.70%	-43.50%	-2	-5.10%	-23.40%	4.00%	-61.60%	-4.10%
dallas-fort worth-arlington, tx	2.10%	-36.70%	-3	-6.10%	-17.50%	2.70%	-48.10%	-2.20%
dayton, oh	12.40%	-47.70%	0	0.00%	-41.60%	1.30%	-52.10%	-1.00%
deltona-daytona beach-ormond beach, fl	1.40%	-31.80%	-1	-1.30%	-15.30%	1.50%	-47.00%	-1.70%
denver-aurora-lakewood, co	8.00%	-32.50%	0	0.00%	-10.90%	3.50%	-44.70%	-2.70%
des moines-west des moines, ia	-1.50%	-27.60%	-3	-4.60%	-14.60%	1.40%	-20.80%	1.10%
detroit-warren-dearborn, mi	7.70%	-35.70%	2	5.60%	-25.10%	1.80%	-49.70%	-2.10%
durham-chapel hill, nc	9.60%	-34.50%	-2	-3.40%	-23.80%	1.50%	-43.00%	-0.90%
el paso, tx	14.30%	-47.60%	11	18.30%	-28.30%	2.60%	-73.40%	-2.50%
fresno, ca	4.40%	-55.70%	-6	-13.30%	-34.70%	4.60%	-73.70%	-4.10%
grand rapids-wyoming, mi	8.60%	-33.10%	10	27.80%	-5.70%	4.30%	-56.10%	-3.90%
greensboro-high point, nc	11.50%	-39.60%	-1	-1.60%	-24.00%	2.30%	-59.20%	-2.70%
greenville-anderson-mauldin, sc	3.80%	-31.80%	5	8.80%	-13.80%	1.90%	-47.10%	-2.00%
harrisburg-carlisle, pa	9.90%	-49.30%	-18	-31.60%	-15.20%	5.50%	-46.50%	-0.10%
hartford-west hartford-east hartford, ct	6.80%	-29.40%	-13	-23.20%	0.90%	2.60%	-55.50%	-2.50%
houston-the woodlands-sugar land, tx	3.10%	-28.10%	0	0.00%	-10.20%	1.90%	-42.50%	-1.90%
indianapolis-carmel-anderson, in	3.10%	-42.20%	1	2.10%	-26.80%	2.70%	-49.20%	-1.50%
jackson, ms	17.60%	-37.70%	-5	-6.00%	-17.30%	1.70%	-46.40%	-1.00%
jacksonville, fl	0.50%	-29.80%	-4	-5.70%	-20.50%	0.90%	-44.90%	-2.00%
kansas city, mo-ks	12.90%	-45.10%	3	6.10%	-32.90%	2.20%	-56.90%	-2.00%
knoxville, tn	4.30%	-43.60%	-5	-7.90%	-33.20%	1.60%	-50.40%	-1.00%
lakeland-winter haven, fl	3.50%	-15.20%	2	3.10%	-11.00%	0.40%	-16.60%	-0.10%
las vegas-henderson-paradise, nv	4.70%	-15.10%	3	6.70%	-16.70%	-0.20%	-49.60%	-4.10%
little rock-north little rock-conway, ar	19.00%	-42.30%	-14	-23.30%	-7.20%	4.30%	-51.40%	-1.40%
los angeles-long beach-anaheim, ca	23.80%	-23.50%	7	15.20%	-16.30%	0.90%	-46.80%	-2.20%
louisville/jefferson county, ky-in	5.50%	-47.10%	0	0.00%	-27.70%	3.70%	-54.10%	-1.40%
madison, wi	5.80%	-32.30%	3	6.40%	-7.60%	3.50%	-49.30%	-2.10%
mcallen-edinburg-mission, tx	10.10%	-39.10%	5	5.60%	-21.30%	1.50%	-52.20%	-0.90%
memphis, tn-ms-ar	10.60%	-45.00%	-6	-10.70%	-9.70%	4.90%	-48.20%	-0.80%
miami-fort lauderdale-west palm beach, fl	-2.40%	-11.80%	23	23.70%	-7.20%	0.30%	-22.60%	-0.60%
milwaukee-waukesha-west allis, wi	0.00%	-38.60%	7	18.00%	-32.20%	1.30%	-50.70%	-1.90%
minneapolis-st. paul-bloomington, mn-wi	4.30%	-25.90%	-1	-2.60%	-7.10%	2.70%	-46.10%	-2.20%
nashville-davidson--murfreesboro--franklin, tn	4.00%	-20.90%	-6	-16.20%	-12.80%	1.10%	-31.70%	-1.10%
new haven-milford, ct	5.40%	-29.00%	-17	-28.30%	8.60%	3.00%	-50.40%	-1.60%
new orleans-metairie, la	7.00%	-29.50%	1	1.40%	-9.00%	1.80%	-34.80%	-0.70%
new york-newark-jersey city, ny-nj-pa	6.60%	-15.50%	-4	-6.30%	18.30%	2.40%	-33.20%	-1.20%
north port-sarasota-bradenton, fl	0.80%	-25.60%	1	1.10%	2.90%	2.10%	-27.40%	-0.30%
oklahoma city, ok	11.00%	-32.60%	1	2.20%	-30.90%	0.20%	-53.40%	-3.00%
omaha-council bluffs, ne-ia	6.90%	-30.90%	12	36.40%	-14.60%	2.60%	-50.50%	-2.30%
orlando-kissimmee-sanford, fl	1.50%	-17.40%	4	6.80%	-9.00%	0.90%	-34.00%	-1.90%
oxnard-thousand oaks-ventura, ca	15.30%	-41.80%	0	0.00%	-19.20%	3.70%	-64.40%	-4.00%
palm bay-melbourne-titusville, fl	5.10%	-31.60%	5	8.50%	-3.90%	3.10%	-45.00%	-1.60%
philadelphia-camden-wilmington, pa-nj-de-md	20.60%	-45.40%	-14	-23.30%	-14.40%	4.20%	-52.00%	-1.30%
phoenix-mesa-scottsdale, az	6.50%	-44.90%	-5	-9.10%	-11.10%	5.40%	-62.90%	-4.00%
pittsburgh, pa	25.00%	-33.30%	-4	-6.70%	-8.50%	2.80%	-37.80%	-0.80%
portland-south portland, me	10.40%	-40.40%	-5	-10.00%	-25.00%	2.30%	-56.30%	-1.80%
portland-vancouver-hillsboro, or-wa	5.30%	-41.70%	6	15.40%	-18.70%	3.90%	-28.50%	1.70%
providence-warwick, ri-ma	10.00%	-47.80%	-1	-2.00%	-23.30%	4.20%	-62.30%	-1.90%
raleigh, nc	1.30%	-34.10%	-9	-15.50%	-0.90%	4.20%	-41.60%	-1.20%
richmond, va	7.50%	-37.50%	0	0.00%	-26.00%	1.80%	-45.50%	-1.10%
riverside-san bernardino-ontario, ca	7.40%	-51.50%	1	1.90%	-26.10%	4.20%	-71.10%	-3.50%
rochester, ny	8.70%	-37.00%	-8	-22.20%	-5.90%	5.10%	-56.10%	-2.70%
sacramento--roseville--arden-arcade, ca	5.20%	-45.80%	2	5.00%	-29.80%	3.30%	-61.00%	-3.00%
salt lake city, ut	12.70%	-43.70%	1	2.80%	-24.60%	3.80%	-50.50%	-1.70%
san antonio-new braunfels, tx	3.40%	-31.20%	5	9.40%	-13.40%	2.00%	-47.80%	-2.80%
san diego-carlsbad, ca	11.40%	-42.10%	-3	-7.30%	-16.30%	4.70%	-61.90%	-3.00%
san francisco-oakland-hayward, ca	14.30%	-14.70%	-1	-2.90%	0.40%	2.20%	-19.70%	-0.50%
san jose-sunnyvale-santa clara, ca	8.80%	-31.30%	-4	-10.50%	-4.70%	4.40%	-44.30%	-1.80%
scranton--wilkes-barre--hazleton, pa	14.50%	-47.90%	-12	-16.90%	-15.00%	3.80%	-55.20%	-1.00%
seattle-tacoma-bellevue, wa	4.50%	-29.80%	-3	-8.10%	-4.10%	4.30%	-56.50%	-4.10%
spokane-spokane valley, wa	14.30%	-42.70%	3	7.50%	-33.60%	1.90%	-49.10%	-1.00%
springfield, ma	18.70%	-44.70%	0	0.00%	-12.30%	5.10%	-61.70%	-3.30%
st. louis, mo-il	10.20%	-34.40%	2	3.50%	-13.30%	2.70%	-44.00%	-1.40%
stockton-lodi, ca	3.60%	-56.10%	3	7.10%	-33.60%	5.20%	-80.10%	-5.00%
syracuse, ny	0.10%	-42.30%	6	10.90%	-23.50%	2.90%	-45.60%	-0.60%
tampa-st. petersburg-clearwater, fl	5.70%	-37.50%	0	0.00%	-18.60%	2.50%	-39.80%	-0.60%
toledo, oh	9.30%	-36.20%	0	0.00%	-29.20%	1.10%	8.80%	5.70%
tucson, az	12.80%	-44.80%	2	4.00%	-29.00%	2.70%	-44.40%	-0.20%
tulsa, ok	22.00%	-37.80%	-6	-10.50%	-9.50%	3.50%	-46.00%	-1.40%
urban honolulu, hi	-11.20%	29.90%	18	32.10%	-17.50%	-2.90%	-36.50%	-2.70%
virginia beach-norfolk-newport news, va-nc	11.50%	-42.00%	-14	-25.00%	-12.10%	3.50%	-62.00%	-2.10%
washington-arlington-alexandria, dc-va-md-wv	11.60%	-43.40%	-10	-23.80%	-16.40%	4.90%	-54.20%	-1.90%
wichita, ks	22.80%	-41.40%	1	2.00%	-13.80%	4.20%	-47.20%	-1.10%
winston-salem, nc	10.40%	-41.00%	-7	-10.60%	-17.60%	3.20%	-40.50%	-0.20%
worcester, ma-ct	11.20%	-48.00%	-7	-14.00%	-29.40%	3.00%	-59.90%	-1.90%
youngstown-warren-boardman, oh-pa	0.00%	-47.90%	-4	-6.20%	-30.40%	2.30%	-66.90%	-3.40%

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