The unthinkable has happened. Like you, I have been watching a very slow-moving tsunami overtaking the entire world. We have all been hearing stories of the heroes on the front lines and the loss of loved ones we can’t say goodbye to. All the people I work with have heard me say “all things happen for a reason.” I don’t know where the good will come from this, I am hopeful we will see an end soon. The real estate market, like all business, is being impacted. I will share some facts with you and try to keep my opinions to myself. Below are two charts. The first starts January 14th and goes through March 21st. The lines represent a 7-day moving average of home showings in North America. As you can see, the orange line (2020) falls below the blue line (2019) on March 14th. As of the 21st, showings are down by 33.3% over the same time last year. The second chart is one-week later March 29th. As you can see in this chart North American home showings are down 58.8%. Edina Realty put out some statistics for before, then after March 17th:
Having said that, during a recent meeting, my other office agents said they are working with buyers with listings coming on the market and there are still multiple offers on new listings. One new challenge for Realtors is dealing with the prospect of buyers losing a job before the home has closed. This is a real concern for all. I have seen the ratio of cancelled sales rising as well. Realtors have been designated as essential workers; we are there to facilitate transactions vital to our clients. We are working differently now. Open houses have been banned. We can do showings but only when we and our clients are the only people in the home and no other agents may show at the same time. When showing we must follow all strict social distancing guidelines, staying 6 feet apart and not touching anything inside the home. We have begun to show homes using FaceTime and do a fair amount of Zoom (video) presentations to list and sell homes. We are living in uncertain times and we are sure to meet many challenges. My hope is we can all handle those challenges with empathy and consideration toward all the other humans experiencing the same and worse. Please stay well! Related Articles:
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