Since Spring 2019, Homesnap has measured agents’ views about the health of their local market by asking them each month whether they are more optimistic, less optimistic or had no change in feeling about the health of their market compared to the month before. Agents across the country using the Homesnap Pro app are asked this question once per month and roughly 40K agents submit an answer each month.
Homesnap recently analyzed the results from its Agent Confidence Index as well as market data from February 2020 – May 2020, and below is a summary of what this data says in regard to the COVID-19 real estate market.
COVID-19 Market Data Analysis
As we entered the 2020 spring home-buying period in March, internal Homesnap data showed that the market was forecasting a strong season:
– Listings were up 8.52 percent from February 2020 – March 2020.
– Number of homes closed per month increased by 23.76 percent from February 2020 – March 2020.
– As COVID-19 hit its peak across the U.S. in April 2020:
– Listings fell by 27.49 percent
– The amount of homes closed per month fell 14.21 percent
– Following the peak of COVID-19, the real estate market began to bounce back in May 2020
– Listings were up by 30.77 percent
– Number of homes closed decreased by 6.26 percent
COVID-19 Agent Confidence Index Analysis
Across all regions of the U.S., agent optimism took a big hit in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic began; however, since then agents have expressed renewed confidence in their markets.
– In February 2020, 44.12 percent of all agents surveyed reported that they felt more optimistic about the current real estate market at that time.
– In March 2020, Homesnap found a downturn in agent optimism to 18.79 percent and a spike to 35.21 percent in agent pessimism.
– In April 2020, agents started expressing renewed confidence in their markets—25.04 percent of agents reported feeling more optimistic about the real estate market compared to the month prior.
– May 2020 data shows that agents are continuing to have renewed confidence in their markets—optimism is slowly returning to pre-COVID levels. Agent optimism significantly increased in May 2020 compared to the month prior with 45.23 percent of agents reporting feeling more optimistic.
Agent Sentiment Based on Number of Transactions (Data Shown From March 2020 – April 2020):
When segmenting the data based on the number of transactions an agent has conducted, it appears that agents with a higher volume of transactions over the last 12 months were the most optimistic about the market in April, while lower-volume agents felt the opposite.
– 20-plus transactions/year: Agents with more than 20 buyer/seller transactions per year reported a 4.56 percent decrease in pessimism from March to April 2020.
– Less than five transactions/year: Agents with less than five buyer/seller transactions per year reported a .77 percent increase in pessimism from March to April 2020.
For more information, please visit www.homesnap.com.
