Summer 2020 Housing Market Update

As I’ve mentioned, the market is HOT, HOT, HOT…for sellers. For buyers, it’s terrible, to be honest. We are indeed in the midst of a housing shortage.

Here are the July stats:

New listings were up +45% for the month of July versus last July, however month’s supply of inventory was down -21.2% and homes for sale down -19% YoY. The spark of new listings accounts for pent up March-May inventory that should have hit the spring market but got furloughed. But as you can see, even with this surge, supply was low and demand high. Sale to list % has only gone up +0.1% versus last July, however this mainly accounts for closed listings that went into contract during COVID lockdown. My projection for next month is that the sale/list % will go up considerably based on the amount of bidding wars we have been seeing in June and July, and will have a better sense of the sale/list increase for the summer once those homes start to close in August. Average days on market has increased 28.6% over last year. However, this accounts only for homes that closed in July. It takes 45-60 days to close, so that stat incorporates those homes that were listed during the shutdown in April and May, at which point homes could not be viewed in person.

In terms of showing activity, we are seeing an astounding 70.8% increase in showing activity on listings over last year, which reflects the surge in buyers flooding the market. The most telling indicator of this total seller market, however, is the fact that home prices are up a whopping 8% in July over last year.

In terms of the most popular price points, it appears that the starter home bracket ($400-600k on average) has by far and away the most showing activity of all the price points. The luxury end ($900+) range is lagging in all markets with the exception of Scarsdale and Edgemont school districts, where the starting price for a home hovers around $800k. This shows that it’s the first time home buyers that are predominantly saturating the buying pool. The luxury market has always lagged behind the lower price points, however we are seeing major differences in showing activity for the month of July. 47% of home showings throughout Westchester are for properties in the $300-600k range, while showings on the $1M+ range account for just under 6%.

The housing shortage has not let up for August either. With bidding wars abound, potential sellers are unable to find properties, and therefore not able to list their places, further compounding the shortage. Those homeowners that are contemplating putting their homes on the market and have some place to go are urged to strike while the iron is hot. No one truly knows the direction in which this market is heading, but as we learned from the last housing crisis, what goes up must come down. Now is definitely the time to sell!

I will be back early next month for a market overview for August!