By Craig M. Douglas | Phoenix Business Journal
The coronavirus pandemic has jolted the U.S. housing market back to levels last seen during the depths of the Great Recession and is wiping billions in potential sales commissions off the table for real estate brokers.
A Business Journals analysis of pricing and supply data provided by Zillow makes clear the COVID-19 crisis has reversed what was shaping up to be a banner year for the residential real estate sector. As of April 5, daily new home listings had plummeted 27% nationally from where they were a year earlier, with some of the country’s largest and strongest markets seeing declines ranging from 36.4% in San Francisco to 56.6% in New York City.
Phoenix is one market, however, that’s bucking the trend on new listings as of April 5, showing a less than 1% drop compared with the same day in 2019. Where it was comparable with national trends was with total active listings, which were down 26.7% compared with a year earlier.
The active inventory numbers from April were an improvement for the Valley from March by about 1,500 homes. The March 1 inventory numbers were down nearly 33%. According to industry analysts and experts polled by the Business Journal, expect housing demand in the Phoenix area will slip but will begin to recover later in the year.
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Related article: Impact of COVID-19 on Real Estate Showings (Updated Apr. 9, 2020)