What’s happening with single family home sales in the post-covid housing market? The Sundae team looked at the data to get the answer.
This year has been a nonstop rollercoaster with unpredictable twists and turns around every corner. Real estate is no exception to the ups and downs.
In the hopes of making sense of it all, the Sundae team put together an analysis on single family home sales nationwide. As we enter the holiday season, digging into the numbers sheds valuable insight on local market trends compared to pre-COVID times.
For questions on our methodology, feedback, or comments, or if you’d like to see this data targeted to Los Angeles, San Diego, or the Inland Empire of California, please feel free to contact us.
After COVID drop, monthly volume of homes sold in 2020 recovered by June
With stay at home orders issued across states around mid-March and rising uneconomic uncertainty, the real estate market reflected these shifts and home sales reached a relative low in April. By the summer, however, home sales recovered and even eclipsed numbers from the past two years.
The accumulation of supply and pent up demand during this time led to unique consequences as suggested in local market health metrics.
Source: Sundae, Inc. as of 12 November 2020. Analysis excludes foreclosed and new properties. Transactions with ambiguous property classifications were also excluded.
Median total days on market steadily declining as we approach the holidays
In a post-COVID world, typical seasonality trends are out the door for single family homes. In 2018 and 2019 the summer months held the lowest total days on market, yet in 2020 as summer came to an end, the total days on market decreased.
This trend can be influenced by the volume of homes listed in the summer months and by different home-buying timelines due to the virus, but nonetheless demonstrates how the market has shifted recently.
Source: Sundae, Inc. as of 12 November 2020. Analysis excludes foreclosed and new properties. Total DOM is calculated by subtracting the initial list date from the sold date for homes that were publicly listed.
Homes return a higher sale amount compared to previous years
2020 started strong right off the bat for sellers and continues to surge upwards compared to previous years that flatlined closer to the holidays. This may indicate that demand for single family homes remains strong despite external forces to the market.
Source: Sundae, Inc. as of 12 November 2020. Analysis excludes foreclosed and new properties.
Homebuyers increasingly seek out larger properties
The significantly increased time spent at home has potentially shifted buyer thinking towards wanting more space. This will be an interesting trend to follow as behaviors change and shared space outside the home begins to open up.
Source: Sundae, Inc. as of 12 November 2020. Analysis excludes foreclosed and new properties.
Increased sale price can be partially attributed to growing home size
With continuous fluctuations in the economy, it is difficult to separate out how much growth in median single family home sale price can be attributed to inflation. But when considering the graph on median sq. ft. of recently purchased homes, buyer preferences have been recently leaning towards larger homes.
Source: Sundae, Inc. as of 12 November 2020. Analysis excludes foreclosed and new properties.
