Realtor.com® Weekly Housing Report: New Listings Decline Even Further as Buyers and Sellers Hit Pause During Election Week

Rhea-AI Summary

Buyers and sellers paused in the housing market last week, impacted by the presidential election and rising coronavirus cases, as reported by realtor.com® for the week ending Nov. 7. New listings fell 12%, contributing to a 39% year-over-year drop in total homes for sale. Despite this, home prices continued their double-digit growth, increasing by 12.9%. The average time on the market decreased to 13 days. realtor.com's Housing Market Recovery Index dipped to 108.0, highlighting a slight slowdown after October's peak, yet indicating strong performance compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Positive

• Home prices increased by 12.9% year-over-year.
• Average time on market decreased to 13 days, indicating faster sales.
• The Housing Market Recovery Index is at 108.0, above pre-COVID levels.

Negative

• New listings down 12% week-over-week, reflecting a continuing decline.
• Total number of homes for sale dropped 39% year-over-year.
• The Housing Market Recovery Index decreased by 1.4 points from the previous week.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Buyers and sellers took a step back from the market last week as the nation focused its attention on the presidential election and surging coronavirus cases, according to realtor.com^®'s Weekly Housing Report for the week ending Nov 7. The latest report found new listings declined even further from the prior week, while prices and the pace of sales continue to hold steady -- further thwarting the usual seasonal slowdown.

"Between the presidential election and a new wave of coronavirus cases, buyers and sellers had a lot of reasons to pause last week," according to realtor.com^® Chief Economist, Danielle Hale. "The big question is whether both buyers and sellers will jump back into the market after last week's break. With mortgage rates expected to rise on news of a likely vaccine, buyers may have reason to jump back in and find a home sooner rather than later, but sellers may be more inclined to stay on hold. Thus, even as overall activity slows, we may very well see continued price growth and quick sales."

Sellers take a break from putting their homes on the market

• New listings further declined for the second week in a row, down 12% for the week ending Nov. 7 from last week's decrease of 9%. This is a step backwards for newly listed homes which were down only 2% for the week ending Oct. 24.
• New listings are a crucial ingredient for homes sales and they will need to make a strong comeback for housing activity to continue.
• Due in part to the decrease in newly listed homes, the total number of homes for sale saw a slight deceleration and dropped to down 39% year-over-year after spending five steady weeks down 38%.

Home prices and the time it takes to sell continue to signal a tight market 

• Listing prices extended their streak of double-digit growth for the 13th consecutive week, up 12.9% over last year.
• As buyers continue to find fewer options for sale, the homes that are available are selling rapidly. The average time on market is just short of two weeks -- 13 days -- faster compared to a year ago.
• This is the seventh week in a row that homes are selling 13 or 14 days faster than last year. If this trend shifts and homes begin to sell even more quickly, it is a good indication that buyers have no intention of taking the holidays off this year, but continued steadiness in the year over year difference would mean we're seeing at least some of the usual seasonal pause in housing activity.

U.S. housing market shows signs of activity easing

• Realtor.com^® tracks the overall strength of the housing market through its proprietary Housing Market Recovery Index, which compares real-time key indicators, including trends in number of searchers on realtor.com^®, median listing prices, the number of newly listed homes, and the time it takes to sell to January 2020, prior to the pandemic.
• The index declined to 108.0 nationwide for the week ending Nov. 7, 8.0 points above the pre-COVID baseline but a decrease of 1.4 points from the prior week. This puts the index on par with September levels, a month when existing home sale closings exceeded a 6.5 million seasonally adjusted annual rate.
• The index shows us that the market remains unusually strong for this time of year, but housing activity has begun to slow down for the second consecutive week as it comes down from October's high point of 112.4.

 

Metro	Median Listing Price YoY	Total Listings YoY	Median Days on Market YoY
Akron, Ohio	6.20%	-52.80%	-12 Days
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.	12.60%	-39.00%	-13 Days
Albuquerque, N.M.	12.90%	-47.30%	-14 Days
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.-N.J.	13.20%	-49.10%	-20 Days
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Ga.	9.20%	-45.00%	-8 Days
Augusta-Richmond County, Ga.-S.C.	8.30%	-49.30%	-28 Days
Austin-Round Rock, Texas	18.00%	-50.90%	-13 Days
Bakersfield, Calif.	16.50%	-46.00%	-20 Days
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md.	1.50%	-52.30%	-12 Days
Baton Rouge, La.	13.60%	-38.50%	-6 Days
Birmingham-Hoover, Ala.	-0.50%	-35.10%	-19 Days
Boise City, Idaho	21.20%	-72.40%	-11 Days
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H.	11.90%	-26.30%	-11 Days
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.	0.00%	-27.00%	-39 Days
Buffalo-Cheektowaga-Niagara Falls, N.Y.	10.60%	-45.70%	8 Days
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla.	9.70%	-39.70%	-11 Days
Charleston-North Charleston, S.C.	12.30%	-44.50%	-22 Days
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.	9.00%	-49.10%	-12 Days
Chattanooga, Tenn.-Ga.	8.50%	-52.10%	-14 Days
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.	8.70%	-32.00%	-7 Days
Cincinnati, Ohio-Ky.-Ind.	13.20%	-42.10%	-13 Days
Cleveland-Elyria, Ohio	5.40%	-47.70%	-15 Days
Colorado Springs, Colo.	9.70%	-55.50%	-15 Days
Columbia, S.C.	10.50%	-48.50%	-17 Days
Columbus, Ohio	9.80%	-46.90%	-12 Days
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas	5.20%	-47.90%	-9 Days
Dayton, Ohio	15.20%	-45.60%	-12 Days
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, Fla.	4.90%	-42.60%	-20 Days
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.	6.30%	-46.30%	-8 Days
Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa	4.70%	-33.70%	-9 Days
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Mich	11.20%	-48.10%	-8 Days
Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.	11.80%	-44.40%	-15 Days
El Paso, Texas	16.80%	-48.10%	-9 Days
Fresno, Calif.	9.80%	-57.30%	-11 Days
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, Mich	7.90%	-48.50%	-4 Days
Greensboro-High Point, N.C.	-1.90%	-51.30%	-18 Days
Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin, S.C.	3.50%	-39.80%	-9 Days
Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa.	12.50%	-57.80%	-6 Days
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.	7.20%	-29.10%	-22 Days
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas	9.50%	-32.90%	-11 Days
Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson, Ind.	3.90%	-45.70%	-13 Days
Jackson, Miss.	15.60%	-48.00%	-24 Days
Jacksonville, Fla.	0.30%	-46.30%	-15 Days
Kansas City, Mo.-Kan.	10.00%	-47.00%	-12 Days
Knoxville, Tenn.	9.90%	-49.90%	-17 Days
Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.	8.70%	-27.80%	-7 Days
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.	8.50%	-26.50%	-14 Days
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, Ark.	22.30%	-60.40%	-18 Days
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif.	15.40%	-19.30%	-10 Days
Louisville/Jefferson County, Ky.-Ind.	1.60%	-48.10%	-16 Days
Madison, Wis.	6.10%	-43.50%	-13 Days
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas	19.70%	-42.60%	-33 Days
Memphis, Tenn.-Miss.-Ark.	14.50%	-51.30%	-16 Days
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Fla.	0.60%	-17.60%	1 Days
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis.	5.40%	-38.20%	-9 Days
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wis.	1.40%	-29.60%	-8 Days
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, Tenn.	7.80%	-46.10%	-8 Days
New Haven-Milford, Conn.	10.70%	-23.70%	-25 Days
New Orleans-Metairie, La.	14.00%	-38.00%	-9 Days
New York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.	15.50%	-5.00%	2 Days
North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.	2.50%	-38.70%	-11 Days
Oklahoma City, Okla.	6.00%	-42.10%	-2 Days
Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb.-Iowa	1.60%	-45.80%	4 Days
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Fla.	1.30%	-20.10%	-1 Days
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, Calif.	12.20%	-52.10%	-10 Days
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Fla.	5.00%	-40.80%	-6 Days
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.	17.00%	-41.70%	-13 Days
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.	10.70%	-42.10%	-8 Days
Pittsburgh, Pa.	25.60%	-38.50%	-14 Days
Portland-South Portland, Maine	7.80%	-46.50%	-33 Days
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash.	10.80%	-44.70%	-8 Days
Providence-Warwick, R.I.-Mass.	5.50%	-50.40%	-12 Days
Raleigh, N.C.	6.40%	-47.80%	-18 Days
Richmond, Va.	13.30%	-48.40%	-8 Days
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif.	16.10%	-53.90%	-10 Days
Rochester, N.Y.	11.10%	-43.80%	-17 Days
Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade, Calif.	12.30%	-46.10%	-17 Days
Salt Lake City, Utah	17.40%	-51.80%	-13 Days
San Antonio-New Braunfels, Texas	5.00%	-41.50%	-9 Days
San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.	10.40%	-23.00%	-1 Days
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.	10.80%	3.20%	-3 Days
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.	8.90%	-5.80%	-12 Days
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, Pa.	18.20%	-52.30%	-35 Days
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.	8.50%	-39.80%	-7 Days
Spokane-Spokane Valley, Wash.	7.10%	-50.70%	-5 Days
Springfield, Mass.	14.60%	-44.10%	-15 Days
St. Louis, Mo.-Ill.	9.00%	-38.80%	-14 Days
Stockton-Lodi, Calif.	4.60%	-64.50%	-4 Days
Syracuse, N.Y.	5.60%	-44.00%	2 Days
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.	9.20%	-41.40%	-13 Days
Toledo, Ohio	-1.60%	-42.10%	-4 Days
Tucson, Ariz.	8.40%	-44.90%	-5 Days
Tulsa, Okla.	10.20%	-41.00%	-8 Days
Urban Honolulu, Hawaii	-9.60%	24.40%	1 Day
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, Va.-N.C.	10.60%	-52.30%	-27 Days
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-Va.-Md.-W. Va.	4.20%	-35.60%	-11 Days
Wichita, Kan.	9.40%	-36.60%	-13 Days
Winston-Salem, N.C.	-0.40%	-46.80%	-20 Days
Worcester, Mass.-Conn.	10.30%	-50.20%	-23 Days
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, Ohio-Pa.	16.60%	-52.50%	-24 Days

About realtor.com^®
Realtor.com^® makes buying, selling and living in homes easier and more rewarding for everyone. Realtor.com^® pioneered the world of digital real estate 20 years ago, and today through its website and mobile apps is a trusted source for the information, tools and professional expertise that help people move confidently through every step of their home journey. Using proprietary data science and machine learning technology, realtor.com^® pairs buyers and sellers with local agents in their market, helping take the guesswork out of buying and selling a home. For professionals, realtor.com^® is a trusted provider of consumer connections and branding solutions that help them succeed in today's on-demand world. Realtor.com^® is operated by News Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc. under a perpetual license from the National Association of REALTORS^®. For more information, visit realtor.com^®.

Media Contacts: 
Cody Horvat, cody.horvat@move.com

 

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SOURCE realtor.com

FAQ

What are the latest trends in the U.S. housing market as of November 2020?

Recent trends indicate a pause in buyer and seller activity due to the presidential election and rising coronavirus cases, with new listings down 12% and total homes for sale down 39% year-over-year.

How have home prices changed according to realtor.com's report for the week ending Nov. 7, 2020?

Home prices have seen a 12.9% increase compared to last year, continuing a streak of double-digit growth.

What is the current average time on the market for homes?

The average time on the market for homes is now just 13 days, indicating quicker sales compared to previous years.

What was the State of the Housing Market Recovery Index for November 2020?

The Housing Market Recovery Index stood at 108.0 for the week ending Nov. 7, showing strong performance relative to the pre-pandemic baseline.