Note: This post is the sixth in a series of weekly updates examining the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Reno-Sparks housing market.
Most metrics continue their positive trends; Pending sales up YoY!
New Listings
New listings continue to close their year-over-year deficit gap. The 128 new listings that hit the market the week of May 10th – May 16th are currently down 33.7 percent from the corresponding week last year. This is an improvement over the 38.4 percent deficit from the previous week, and a huge improvement over the 55.3 percent deficit observed two weeks prior.
As the state and the economy slowly begin to reopen, it appears more home sellers are listing their homes for sale.
[Note: The number of new listings for the week of April 19 – April 25 has been adjusted to remove a large number of listings added that week due to a one-time transfer of listings from one brokerage to another. See How is the coronavirus pandemic impacting the Reno-Sparks housing market? [Update for the week of April 19th – 25th] for more details.]
Back on Market
The number of properties falling out of escrow and returning to market continues to be higher than historical averages. This is likely due to buyers no longer being able to qualify for financing due to job loss or reduced income.
27 properties came back on market during the week of May 10th – May 16th. This number is up 22.7 percent from the previous week, however it should be noted that not all of these “Back on Market” listings originated from current escrows that fell through.
What we are now beginning to see are homes that had been placed into “Temporarily Off Market” status are now returning to the market. Currently, roughly 20 percent of the “Back on Market” listings came from a prior “Temporarily Off Market” status, rather than a pending status.
New Pending Sales
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 observed.
The week of May 10th – May 16th saw 153 homes placed into contract as pending sales. Not only is this number 21.4 percent greater than the pending sales observed the previous week, but also, year-over-year, these pending sales are up 7.7 percent over the weekly total of 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
The week of May 10th – May 16th saw only three homes taken off the market. This number is not only a fraction of recent weeks’ totals, but also is well below even pre-coronavirus pandemic weekly levels.
The market appears to have moved well past the worst of the number of listings being taken off the market.
[Note: The number of withdrawn listings for the week of April 19 – April 25 has been adjusted to remove a large number of listings withdrawn that week due to a one-time transfer of listings from one brokerage to another. See How is the coronavirus pandemic impacting the Reno-Sparks housing market? [Update for the week of April 19th – 25th] for more details.]
Homes Sold
The number of homes sold continue to reflect the effects of the unprecedented low number of pending sales observed in late March and early April. However, as seen with new listings, home sales continue to close the year-over-year weekly deficit gap.
89 homes sold the week of May 10th – May 16th —- an impressive 30.9 percent increase over the previous week. But more importantly, this number lessened the year-over-year deficit between the weekly total for the corresponding week of 2019 — coming in at 35.5 percent below.
And with new pending sales trending up in recent weeks (see above), expect home sales to follow suit. Very good news!
As always, thank you for reading the blog. I will continue to track the data and update you on a weekly basis.
In the meantime, please take care of yourself and each other.
