Early Signs of the Real Estate Market Comeback from COVID-19

Through this Coronavirus pandemic, we have been sharing insights into different data to pay attention to so you can navigate these difficult times. Check out our previous posts here, here and here.

I wanted to put together a quick, high-level post to share with you what I'm seeing. I feel this will provide some hope as we all prepare for the upcoming recovery.

Over the last couple of months, I have been paying close attention to data trends to determine the depth and length that this impact is going to have on our clients' businesses. In analyzing the data, I paid particular attention to organic traffic. The outbreak hit organic traffic the hardest and, in my opinion, is the leading indicator of what is happening in the market. Organic search activity is driven by intent, and in the initial phase of the pandemic, online search activity dropped off significantly for real estate.

However, over the last few weeks, I've noticed a positive upward swing in organic search activity, which is good news for our clients and the industry.

In taking a closer look at the data, a few trends are starting to emerge as far as impact goes on brokerages. The luxury market seemed to take a pretty significant hit overall. In these markets, the recovery is a bit slower to take hold. Below are a few examples to illustrate this trend.

On the flip side, there are markets where the impact was barely felt. For these brokerages, organic search traffic is currently at the highest levels year to date, as well as year over year. These brokers tended to be in what I'd consider hot markets where the curve flattened quickly, or the overall impact Coronavirus within the market was minimal.

The last group is what I'd consider the normal trend most brokerages are seeing. With this group, we saw the initial dip in late February, early March, and improvement starting to occur in the period from March 16th through April 2nd.

I'm cautiously optimistic about what I see in the trending data. I feel the worst is behind us, and there appears to be sustained growth occurring in this channel. If you are a brokerage currently engaged in SEO, stay the course. This is not a time to pull the plug. Remember to pay attention to your own data as it provides valuable insights, such as is laid out above.

To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.