March 2020 Northeast Florida Market Stats: How is COVID-19 Impacting our Market.

April 23, 2020

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Posted by in News

I want to share the latest market stats from the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors and the thoughts of other Realtors and Builders on how the COVID-19 Pandemic is impacting our market.

 

The March 2020 market stats are surprisingly still positive because so many of the listings and sales were already in the works when we began seeing impacts from the virus in mid-March. There were 3,976 new listings compared to 3,963 last March for a 0.3% increase.

 

There were 2,832 pending sales down 5.9% from 3,010 last March as we began to see less buyers out in the last half of the month. There were 2,672 closed sales which is an increase of 2.1% over 2,617 last March. It seems most people under contract were able to close in March. We only lost a couple of transactions that were to close at the end of March.

 

We haven’t seen any impact on prices from the Pandemic yet. The median sales price of $243,635 was up 5.9% over last March and the average sales price of $287,210 was up 6.7%.

 

The inventory of homes for sale is down 14.9% to 8,375 homes available. The months supply of homes for sale is down 20.5% to 3.1 months. A balanced market is 5 to 6 months of supply.

 

Everyone seems to agree that the spring housing market will be slower than normal. The National Association of Realtors conducted an Economic Pulse Flash Survey on April 5-6. “Almost six of 10 Realtors recently surveyed by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that their buyers were delaying home purchases for a couple of months. It was similar on the seller side: 57% of real estate professionals said sellers were delaying home sales.”

 

“So far, most Realtors reported stable prices in their markets, with three out of four (72%) saying their sellers haven’t reduced asking prices to attract buyers. However, a majority of homebuyers (63%) expect prices to decline eventually, perhaps hoping that the temporary decline in buyer’s interest will translate into a buyer’s market after steps to fight the pandemic have been rescinded.” 2020 Florida Realtors article

 

Florida buyer showings are down over 60% from the same period last year according to ShowingTime. Most of the Builders and Realtors I have spoken with agree with this data and they have written about 50% of the contracts for April that they would expect to see.

 

Most real estate professionals see the slowdown as temporary because the real estate market was so strong when the impact of the virus started. Many believe we will see the pent-up demand once the social distancing rules are relaxed.

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About Sherry Davidson, President of Davidson Realty
Since launching Davidson Realty in 1989, Sherry Davidson has built the firm to include nearly 60 agents and exceed $100 million in annual sales. She is known throughout the First Coast as an authority on all things residential real estate, having served on the Board of Directors for Northeast Florida Association of Realtors, Florida Realtors® (a division of the National Association of Realtors), and Builders Care (charitable arm of Northeast Florida Builders Association).

Thanks to Sherry’s leadership, Davidson Realty has been recognized as one of the state’s Best Companies to Work For (Florida Trend Magazine), as well as one of the region’s Best Places to Work and 50 Fastest Growing Companies (Jacksonville Business Journal). Get to know Davidson Realty’s talented team of agents by clicking here or call us at (904) 940-5000.

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