Note: This post is the seventh in a series of weekly updates examining the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Reno-Sparks housing market.
Buyers have returned to the market! Pending sales up 26% YoY!
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 17th – May 23rd saw 168 homes placed into contract as pending sales. Not only is this number the largest we have observed since the coronavirus pandemic began, but also, year-over-year, these pending sales are up 26.3 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.
New Listings
The 128 new listings that hit the market the week of May 17th – May 23rd was equal to the number of new listings the previous week; and are down 44.3 percent from the corresponding week last year.
The relative lack of new listings coming to market is negatively impacting inventory. And with inventory levels already depressed, and buyer demand increasing, this will place upward pressure on home prices.
[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 decreased during the week of May 17th – May 23rd.
14 properties came back on market during the week of May 10th – May 16th. This number is down 48.1 percent from the previous week. Good news!
Withdrawns
The week of May 17th – May 23rd saw ten homes taken off the market. This number is in line with 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[Note: The number of withdrawn listings for the week of April 19 – April 25 has been adjusted to remove a large number of listings withdrawn that week due to a one-time transfer of listings from one brokerage to another.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.
86 homes sold the week of May 17th – May 23rd. this number was down 9.5 percent from the previous week, and down nearly 50 percent year-over-year, from the corresponding week of 2019.
Thant being said, with new pending sales now above year-over-year weekly totals (see above), expect home sales to rebound beginning in late June.
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.
Bruce Oberg
Guy, I love your new weekly reports Thanks for sharing the MLS data that most of us can’t see. I would love to see a weekly ratio of new listings + BOM over pending sales. It would give your readers a good read on whether supply is tightening or loosening. Anything over 1 would mean supply is loosening and under 1 means its tightening. Seeing this over time would be useful. Thanks for your great work.
Guy Johnson
Hello Bruce. Thank you for your comment and kind words. Much appreciated! I like the idea you propose. I’ll look into that and see what I can put together.