Daily Archives: April 20, 2020

Fast Facts on U.S. Small Businesses

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Source: Statista

The stimulus package for small businesses appropriated by the U.S. Congress has reportedly already run out of money, as small businesses around the country continue to struggle due to COVID-19 restrictions.

In the U.S., there are over 20 million businesses with less than 500 employees. The country has a total of 135 million employed in small businesses, contributing to a total annual sales number of nearly $9 trillion. With small businesses struggling to retain a fraction of their regular sales and employees amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the hit to middle- and lower-class citizens could be greatly exacerbated if additional stimulus funds aren’t allocated by Congress.

Infographic: Fast Facts on U.S. Small Businesses | Statista

US Housing Market Reverses Course in March with Coronavirus Shutdowns

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Record-setting declines include a more than 10% decrease in new listings from a year earlier and a 9% drop in total number of home sales in a single month

Seattle, WA – April 20, 2020 (PRNewswire) (NASDAQ: RDFN) — Home sales slipped and the number of homes listed for sale plunged as the U.S. coronavirus crisis turned into a national emergency in March, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. However, the U.S. median home sale price continued to increase, gaining 7.1% year over year and 3.3% month over month to $303,200.

At the beginning of March, the housing market was stronger than ever, with February marking the eighth straight month of increases in home sales, and the U.S. economy was relatively stable. By the end of March, that run had come to an end and everything had been thrown into extreme disarray as the spread of the coronavirus turned the housing market upside down. Therefore, the picture for the entire month of March will understate the stalled condition of the market heading into April.

When trying to understand the apparent home price strength in March it is also important to remember that most of the homes sold during the month actually went under contract in February, before the coronavirus began to shut down the U.S. economy.

However, new list prices are a more leading indicator and asking price growth slowed from 8% in mid-March to flat year over year as of mid-April. If the shutdown is impacting home sale prices, it is not expected to show up until the April and May data, which will reflect homes that went under contract in March and April.

March home sales, which were only partially impacted by the coronavirus shutdowns, dropped 9.1% nationwide from February on a seasonally-adjusted basis, the largest decline since at least January 2012, when Redfin began tracking the statistic. Home sales also fell 1.2% year over year in March, the first decline in nine months, and by the last week of the month they were down 11.5% from the same period a year earlier. The markets with the biggest declines in home sales from a year ago were all in New York State: Rochester (-18.5%), New York (-18.3%) and Nassau County (-17.3%).

Market SummaryMarch 2020Month-Over-MonthYear-Over-Year
Median sale price$303,2003.3%7.1%
Homes sold, seasonally-adjusted511,000-9.1%-1.2%
New listings, seasonally-adjusted551,600-12.5%-10.8%
All Homes for sale, seasonally-adjusted1,909,500-7.0%-13.0%
Median days on market43-12-7
Months of supply2.4-0.6-0.6
Sold above list25.0%3.3 pts†3.6 pts†
Median Off-Market Redfin Estimate$295,300-1.4%2.0%
Average Sale-to-list98.6%0.5 pts†0.5 pts†
† – “pts” = percentage point change

“The impacts of the coronavirus hit the economy hard in mid-March, as we have been reporting in our weekly data, but it’s good to step back and take an aggregated look at the market,” said Redfin lead economist Taylor Marr. “Real estate activities nearly ground to a halt in some parts of the country by the end of March, disrupted by shelter in place laws. Right now, sellers need to decide if they’ll list their home for sale among all the economic uncertainty. On one hand, the number of homes for sale is down more than 20% in recent weeks, even more than the 13% drop we saw for the full month of March, and home prices have so far held better than anyone expected. On the other hand, jobless claims continue to pile up and it is getting increasingly difficult to get a mortgage, which could limit buyer demand. How the market shapes up through the rest of spring will depend heavily on unemployment and the availability of credit.”

The national count of active listings of homes for sale fell 13% year over year during March, the biggest drop since January 2013 and the seventh straight month of declines. By the last week of the month, listings were down 18.8% from the same period a year earlier. There were fewer homes for sale last month than any time since at least January 2012, which is as far back as Redfin has recorded this measure. Just three of the 85 largest metros tracked by Redfin posted a year-over-year increase in the count of seasonally-adjusted active listings of homes for sale, led by Omaha (+9.9%), Minneapolis (+5.3%) and El Paso (+1.3%). Active listings is a count of all homes that were for sale at any time during the month.

Compared to a year ago, the biggest declines in active housing supply in March were in Allentown, PA (-42.7%), Tulsa (-39.9%) and Kansas City, MO (-37.2%).

The number of new listings plummeted in March, dropping 10.8% compared with a year earlier. This is by far the largest decline on record, but more recent data is showing it may be even more severe. By the last week of the month new listings were down 36.9% from the same period a year earlier; as of last week they were declining nearly 50%.

Seasonally-adjusted new listings in March fell the most from a year earlier in Allentown, PA (-46.2%), followed by Kansas City, MO (-46.1%) and Tulsa (-42.7%).

Metrics for sold homes are lagging the market because most sales were agreed to by the buyer and seller before the economy locked up. Nonetheless, it’s worth tracking March data. The median price of homes that sold in March was up 7.1% from a year earlier, a two-year high that reflects the strength of the market before the coronavirus shutdown in March.

Consistent with data from over the last year, the biggest gains in home prices in March were in some of the most affordable housing markets in the nation. The seven metro areas where home prices rose the most year-over-year all had median prices below the national level, led in March by Dayton, OH, (median price $155,000, +24.0%), Philadelphia ($240,000, +21.5%) and Greensboro, NC ($198,900, +20.5%).

None of the 85 largest metro areas Redfin tracks saw a year-over-year decline in the median sale price.

Homes that sold in March spent seven fewer days on market compared to the prior year. In March, the typical home went under contract in 43 days, compared to 50 days in March 2019.

As stated in last month’s Market Tracker report, this measure is not expected to react to the coronavirus shutdowns until April’s data, at the earliest, since that is when details for homes that went under contract in March will appear. Looking at data as of April 10 on how long homes for sale have been on the market, there is already an increase, with the average number of days having increased to 63, up from a low of 58 days earlier in March.

The share of homes that sold above list price increased 3.6 percentage points year over year, coming in at 25% in March compared to 21.4% a year earlier.

To read the full report, including charts, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/housing-market-news-march-2020.

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including theRedfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 90 major metro areas across the U.S. and Canada. The company has helped customers buy or sell homes worth more than $115 billion. For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin’s press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com. To view Redfin’s press center, click here.

RE/MAX National Housing Report for March 2020

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Denver, CO – April 20, 2020 (PRNewswire) Despite the advance of the coronavirus across the U.S. in the second half of the month, March home sales increased 2.7% year-over-year in the report’s 52 markets – a hint of what might have been.

March was the fourth consecutive month with year-over-year increases in U.S. home sales – a streak not seen since 2016. But the spread of COVID-19, and the initiation of governmental measures to slow it, dampened the month’s overall sales results:

  • March’s year-over-year sales growth of less than 3% was significantly less than December 2019 through February 2020 where year-over-year sales increases averaged 10%.
  • The sequential monthly growth in sales from February to March is typically the largest month-over-month percentage increase each year, averaging 32%. This year, March sales increased just 23.8% over February – the lowest such increase for this time period in the report’s nearly 12-year history.

Inventory levels in March continued to constrict amid healthy buyer interest, which helped drive further price increases. Year-over-year, March inventory declined 14.9%, continuing a streak that began in July 2019. Meanwhile, the Median Sales Price of $265,000 was 7.7% higher than a year ago, setting a report record for the month of March. A record low for March was the 54 Days on Market, while 2.7 Months Supply of Inventory was typical for the month, based on the past four years.

“As expected, the strong market of January and February continued into March, setting up a very good first quarter. But then the coronavirus and the initial mitigation measures arrived, disrupting our industry along with everything else,” said Adam Contos, RE/MAX Holdings, Inc. CEO. “Conditions and restrictions vary throughout the country, so some areas continue to see new listings, pendings and closings, while other markets have slowed dramatically – especially where real estate was not deemed an essential service. It’s a fluid situation. We believe that interest in buying or selling remains high, and pent up-demand in many places should drive sales higher over time.”

Added Contos, “One takeaway that’s already clear is that real estate agents, using technology and adhering to social distancing guidelines, can lead consumers through the buying or selling process in a largely virtual way. In many respects, the expertise of a skilled agent has never been more important.”

Closed Transactions 
Of the 52 metro areas surveyed in March 2020, the overall average number of home sales was up 23.8% compared to February 2020, and up 2.7% compared to March 2019. Leading the year-over-year sales percentage increase were Los Angeles, CA at +15.6%, Boise, ID at +15.2%, and Las Vegas, NV at +12.2%.

Median Sales Price – Median of 52 metro median prices
In March 2020, the median of all 52 metro Median Sales Prices was $265,000, up 2.9% from February 2020 and up 7.7% from March 2019. Only one metro area, Billings, MT at -0.4%, saw a year-over-year decrease in Median Sales Price. Seventeen metro areas increased year-over-year by double-digit percentages, with the largest increases seen in Birmingham, AL at +19.8%, Cincinnati, OH at +14.3%, and Salt Lake City, UT at +14.1%.

Days on Market – Average of 52 metro areas
The average Days on Market for homes sold in March 2020 was 54, down five days from the average in February 2020, and down five days from the average in March 2019. The metro areas with the lowest Days on Market were San Francisco, CA at 25, and a two-way tie between Seattle, WA and Omaha, NE at 30. The highest Days on Market averages were in Augusta, ME at 128, Des Moines, IA at 112, and Hartford, CT at 94. Days on Market is the number of days between when a home is first listed in an MLS and a sales contract is signed.

Months Supply of Inventory – Average of 52 metro areas
The number of homes for sale in March 2020 was up 1.1% from February 2020 and down 14.9% from March 2019. Based on the rate of home sales in March 2020, the Months Supply of Inventory decreased to 2.7 compared to 3.0 in February 2020, and decreased compared to 3.2 in March 2019. A six months supply indicates a market balanced equally between buyers and sellers. In March 2020, of the 52 metro areas surveyed, two metro areas reported a months supply at or over six, which is typically considered a buyer’s market. The markets with the lowest Months Supply of Inventory were Manchester, NH at 1.2, and a six-way tie among Boise, ID, Washington DC, Denver, CO, Seattle, WA, Omaha, NE, and San Francisco, CA at 1.3.

For specific data in this report or to request an interview, please contact mediarelations@remax.com

About the RE/MAX Network
As one of the leading global real estate franchisors, RE/MAX, LLC is a subsidiary of RE/MAX Holdings (NYSE: RMAX) with over 130,000 agents in more than 110 countries and territories. Nobody in the world sells more real estate than RE/MAX, as measured by residential transaction sides. Dedicated to innovation and change in the real estate industry, RE/MAX launched Motto Mortgage, a ground-breaking mortgage franchisor, in 2016 and acquired booj, a real estate technology company, in 2018. RE/MAX agents have lived, worked and served in their local communities for decades, raising millions of dollars every year for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® and other charities. To learn more about RE/MAX, to search home listings or find an agent in your community, please visit www.remax.com. For the latest news about RE/MAX, please visit news.remax.com. 

Description
The RE/MAX National Housing Report is distributed each month on or about the 15th. The first Report was distributed in August 2008. The Report is based on MLS data in approximately 52 metropolitan areas, includes all residential property types, and is not annualized. For maximum representation, many of the largest metro areas in the country are represented, and an attempt is made to include at least one metro from each state. Metro area definitions include the specific counties established by the U.S. Government’s Office of Management and Budget, with some exceptions.

Definitions
Transactions are the total number of closed residential transactions during the given month. Months Supply of Inventory is the total number of residential properties listed for sale at the end of the month (current inventory) divided by the number of sales contracts signed (pended) during the month. Where “pended” data is unavailable, this calculation is made using closed transactions. Days on Market is the number of days that pass from the time a property is listed until the property goes under contract for all residential properties sold during the month. Median Sales Price is the median of the median sales prices in each of the metro areas included in the survey.  

MLS data is provided by contracted data aggregators, RE/MAX brokerages and regional offices. While MLS data is believed to be accurate, it cannot be guaranteed. MLS data is constantly being updated, making any analysis a snapshot at a particular time. Every month the RE/MAX National Housing Report re-calculates the previous period’s data to ensure accuracy over time. All raw data remains the intellectual property of each local MLS organization.