July 13 2020
But buyers continue to face significant headwinds of record-low inventory
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 9, 2020 -- Summer home buying season is off to a roaring start. As buyers flooded into the market, realtor.com monthly traffic hit an all-time high of 86 million unique users in June 2020, breaking May's record of 85 million unique users. Realtor.com® daily traffic also hit its highest level ever of 7 million unique users on June 25, signaling that despite the global pandemic buyers are ready to make a purchase.
The realtor.com® Housing Market Recovery Index reached 97.8 nationwide for the week ending July 4, posting the largest weekly increase since the index was introduced. The week's 2.1 point increase over the prior week brings the index just 2.2 points below the pre-COVID baseline. However, supply remains the biggest factor slowing the recovery; total listings remain 31 percent lower than last year and more listings will need to enter the market for sustained improvement in home sales.
"The consistent, record-level homebuyer interest we've detected on realtor.com® over the last five weeks is setting up the tightest summer homebuying season on record," said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com®. "All-time low mortgage rates and easing job losses have boosted buyer confidence back to pre-pandemic levels. With supply at record lows , the backlog of demand portends increased competition and a seller's market in the weeks ahead. While buyers are back, growth in home sales this summer will be constrained by the slow return of sellers and the limited amount of homes hitting the market.
Key Findings:
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.
About realtor.com®
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