Two of the biggest public-facing home listing sites reported a big rebound in homebuyer interest at the end of last week despite reporting a crash of interest as the COVID-19 pandemic first arrived in America.
Redfin reported that buyer inquiries to its agents or those of its partners are down 19 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from pre-pandemic levels for the week ending April 19. However, these inquires have increased every week since the start of April, when they had dropped 34 percent.
Page views on for-sale listings on Zillowi and requests to be connected to a Zillow premier agent have also ticked up in April, the company said, and both are higher year-over-year. While Zillow did not report figures for New Hampshire, it noted site traffic from Greater Boston dropped 26 percent year-over-year for the week ending March 27, then subsequently picked up, sitting only 4 percent behind 2019 levels through April 15. Online requests to connect with a Zillow premier agent dropped steeply in mid-March country-wide, they have since bounced back and as of April 15, these requests were higher than they were a year ago, due in part to increased video tour connections offered.
“The uptick in people browsing for-sale listings combined with high-intent requests to be connected with an agent reveals the resilience of Americans’ interest in shopping for homes on Zillow,” Zillow economist Jeff Tucker said in a statement. “These are encouraging signals and time will tell if this interest will turn into more offers to buy and transactions. The coronavirus pandemic has already cost an unprecedented number of people their jobs, which will force many to put plans for a home purchase on hold. Time will tell whether areas of the country with sharper increases in homebuyer interest see quicker economic recoveries, if consumers are feeling confident enough to consider a big purchase like a new home.”
However, with the numbers of both new listings and total listings down significantly year-over-year, it remains to be seen how prices will be impacted.
