Expert Advice from Amy & Kyle Bergquist
I’ve been tracking the number of new listings on a weekly basis to understand how the coronavirus impacted the Greater Hartford real estate market. Data about new listings is easily gathered from the MLS, and is an immediate gauge of seller sentiment. Because the market was already showing low inventory before the virus arrived, new listings seemed like it would be the obvious bottleneck in the market. The manner in which the listing data was
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Week after week I analyze MLS data to try to figure out how the market is doing. The County lost ground again last week when comparing the number of new listings to the same week in 2019. Despite the underperformance, there were positive signs in last week’s data. Importantly, it was the fourth week in a row when the number of new listings increased. The weekly total was about the level of new listings in
Touring a home is different now than it was up until early March 2020. Real estate in Connecticut never completely shut down, and agents quickly found common ground on how to make showings as safe as possible for sellers, buyers, and agents. The most important measure was to limit showings to only buyers who were actually serious about purchasing a home. Many consider touring homes to be a form of entertainment. Some like to see
As the chart above clearly shows, the month of April did not conform to traditional spring market trends. Instead of the surging towards peak activity in April and May, the 2020 market reversed direction and recorded fewer contracts than were observed in January. For those interested in the magnitude, April lagged the same month in 2019 by about 37%. Despite the reversal, on a year-to-date basis the County is only trailing 2019 totals by 2.5%