Note: This post is the third in a series of weekly updates on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Reno-Sparks housing market.
- The first report can be found here: Is Reno’s Housing Market Slowing Down? [April 12, 2020]
- The second report can be found here: How is the coronavirus pandemic impacting the housing market? [April 22, 2020]
April 29, 2020 Update: Why the surge in “withdrawn” listings?
One of the metrics reported on in the post below is the very large spike in listings being taken off the market last week. In the post I report that for the week of April 19th – 25th, “…the number homes taken off the market surged to 84. This number is up 171 percent from the previous week, and is nearly 7 times that of the pre-coronavirus weekly average.”
So what happened to cause this surge? The answer is a team in our market with a substantial number of active listings changed brokerages last week. And along with the team’s move, so did the team’s listings move as well. In order to transfer the team’s listings from one brokerage to another each listing had to be withdrawn from the MLS and then re-added under the new brokerage. This team’s move accounted for ~71 listings being withdrawn and re-entered. If not for this team’s move, the number of “withdrawn” listings would have been 13 for the week. 13 withdrawn listings represents a 58 percent decrease from the week prior, and is almost back to pre-coronavirus weekly levels. A very positive sign.
A flip side to not counting these 71 transferred listings in the number of “withdrawns” is that they also should not be included in the number of new listings for the week. That is because when these listings were re-entered into the MLS under the new brokerage, they appeared as “new” listings when in actuality they were pre-existing listings that were simply transferred.
Removing these 71 listings from the number of new listings reported in the video reduces the number of actual new listings for the week of April 19th – 25th from 187 to 116. 116 new listings for the week represents a healthy 26 percent increase over the week prior — another positive sign.
April 27, 2020 Update: Let’s begin with some positive news!
New Listings
New listings hitting the market saw an impressive comeback this past week. After slowing down to a rate that was more than 53 percent off of year-over-year numbers two weeks ago, last week’s new listings staged a massive rally with 187 new listings hitting the market. That number was not only up 103 percent over the previous week, but also is up 1.6 percent over 2019’s weekly number of new listings.
Could the worst of the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on the new listings be behind us?
Back on Market
Last week saw a substantial drop in the number of properties returning to market. Recall, these “back on market” properties represent transactions that were in escrow and scheduled to close, but for some reason fell out of escrow, and returned to the MLS.
Prior to last week, since mid-March, back-on-markets have been averaging 37 properties a week. Last week only 14 properties came back to market. This number represent a 56 percent drop from the previous week.
Though still higher than the historical (pre-coronavirus pandemic) weekly average, last week’s number is getting closer to “normal”. Another good sign!
New Pendings
Perhaps the most positive indication of the lessening of the coronavirus pandemic’s impacts on our local housing market is the number of new pending sales. Last week saw 123 homes put into contract as pending sales. This number is up 8.8 percent from the number of new pendings the week prior. But more remarkable is that last week’s new pendings is equal to the number of new pending sales for the corresponding week in 2019. Very good news!
Since bottoming during the week of March 22nd – 28th, new pending sales have continued to climb. This trend will positively impact forthcoming closed home sales. Pending sales typically take 30 – 45 days to result in a closed sale, so look for future home sales to rise accordingly.
Withdrawns
So while new listings, pendings and back on markets all showed encouraging signs last week, one metric did not. That is “withdrawns” — or homes removed from the market by the home seller.
Last week the number homes taken off the market surged to 84. This number is up 171 percent from the previous week, and is nearly 7 times that of the pre-coronavirus weekly average.
Fortunately, with the robust number of new listings that entered the market simultaneously, the overall impact of the surge in withdrawns is somewhat tempered.
Homes Sold
For the past three weeks I’ve been reporting on how the unprecedented low number of pending sales would result in an unprecedented number of homes sold. Well, that result is starting to show in our market.
Last week saw 67 homes sold. That number is down 20 percent from the previous week’s, and is off more than 44 percent where it was for the corresponding week last year.
Month-to-date home sales currently total 291. With four more business days remaining in the month, April’s number of homes sold will probably come in around 350. Compare that estimate to the 533 hoes sold in April 2019. If the 350 home sales estimate is accurate, April sales will be off by more than one-third, year-over-year.
It will be interesting to watch how current pending sales result in May sales.
Home Prices
Despite the relatively low number of sales, home prices remain stable, and even may be continuing to rise. Whereas March’s median sales price was $415,000, which set a record high, month-to-date April sales are showing a median sales price of approximately $425,000 at the moment.
Home buying demand still exists — as can be seen from the increasing number of new pending sales above. This increasing demand, in conjunction with relatively lower inventory at the moment, appears to be putting upward pricing pressure on the median sales price.
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I will continue to track the data and update you on a weekly basis.
As always, thank you for reading the blog, and stay well.
