Hello? Spring Market? Is that You?

I hate to jinx us, but the long awaited Spring Market might finally have thawed out.

Every morning the first thing I do is search the newly listed homes on the MLS for our buyer clients. Every morning over the past week, I have noticed the available homes uptick slightly.

After a crazy week of showings with 3 new groups of buyers (more on that later), I looked deeper.

Let's look at MORR (Monmouth & Ocean Regional Realtors) data over the last week, last month, and finally compare it to last year.

From 4/1-4/15 of 2020, there were 417 newly active properties listed in the MLS. That is incredibly low. Of that, 241 are still active, while the rest are under contract. What does that mean? That means that in those two weeks where the world around us ground to a halt, 57% of homes listed got purchase agreements.

Let's fast forward to this past week.

From 5/6-5/13 of 2020, there were 690 active properties listed. That is a 286% increase over the previous time frame.

Now, before we get too ahead of ourselves, comparing this past week in local real estate to the same week in 2019, we see 2019 had 1274 properties come to market.

My thoughts? People need to move and can't wait any longer. The rebound in the housing market is happening now, at a slow (and socially distant) pace. Remember the part about us not having time to food shop? We have been out with 3 new groups of buyers in the last 7 days, using masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. I am writing an offer on one as soon as I publish this blog post.

Are you on the fence about selling? Now might be the time to get your house on the market. We are employing virtual reality and smart-signs on our listings to lessen contact and increase buyer interest. When you're ready...let's talk.

-Chris