What November slowdown? Upending normal home-showing patterns, traffic across the U.S. rose 47.2% year-over-year as buyers extended their searches, according to ShowingTime, the residential real estate industry’s showing management and market stats technology provider. The year-over-year increases have lessened slightly, but demand continues to be great.
Another ShowingTime finding was that searching for larger homes, with more bedrooms and space, became an important priority for homebuyers. Atlanta saw a 103% increase in demand for five-bedroom homes compared to the same time last year, while showings for four-bedroom homes in the Chicago market surged 80% vs. last year. St. Louis also saw more showing activity at homes with more square footage, recording a 73% increase in demand for five-bedroom homes.
“There is sustained interest in larger homes with more rooms,” said ShowingTime President Michael Lane. “The data suggests that consumers fortunate enough to have jobs where they can work from home want more space if they can find it, though the lack of available inventory continues to be a challenge. COVID-19 has slowed many normal activities and has contributed to fewer listings coming on the market, but agents have still been able to bring buyers to homes, whether in person or virtually.”
Several markets in the West Region including Denver, Colorado, Salt Lake City, Utah and Seattle, Washington recorded another month of double-digit showings per listing, well above the current U.S. average of five showings per listing, according to data from the ShowingTime Showing Index. The same was true in the Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Virginia market area. Meanwhile, some markets recorded an unlikely increase in November showings vs. October, including Honolulu, Hawaii and some cities in Louisiana, where buyers are coming back into the market after a weather-related slowdown from hurricanes Laura and Delta.
“Demand is still at unprecedented levels,” said ShowingTime Chief Analytics Officer Daniil Cherkasskiy. “With inventory continuing to be at historic lows across the U.S., we are likely to see this elevated level of demand into next year’s busy season.”
The ShowingTime Showing Index is compiled using data from more than six million property showings scheduled across the country each month on listings using ShowingTime products and services. The Showing Index tracks the average number of appointments received on active listings during the month.
