New real estate listings plummeted all over the country in April as the coronavirus shut down many sectors of the U.S. economy, according to reports from realtor.com. In some places, real estate professionals are still not allowed to visit a client's house until stay-at-home orders are lifted. Fortunately Boulder’s real estate community will have relief from strict restrictions on activity starting this week.
April is historically one of the busiest months of the year for real estate, but nationwide new listings actually fell over 44% year-over-year. Over the course of the last week ending May 6th, new listing activity in Boulder and Broomfield counties was down only about 21% compared to the same week in 2019. This is an improvement over prior weeks when new listings were down as much as 72%.
As news that restrictions on real estate showings and marketing activity would be lifted by the end of this week, new listings jumped up 24% over the prior week ending April 29th, and increased over 200% from our local COVID stay-at-home low which occurred the week of April 20th.
Consumer confidence that an end is in sight could be reflected in the similar jump in under contract activity, up for the 4th week in a row, thank goodness! The real estate community is optimistic that our check-mark recovery is well underway and that the bottom of the market is in the rearview mirror.
Of the new properties listed in the last week, almost 47% of those in Boulder and Broomfield Counties were in the $300,000- $599,999 range, an indication that the majority of homes for sale are still within reach of first-time home buyers looking to enter the market in our area. Over 65% of the properties listed last week were in the area’s hubs of Boulder and Longmont, while listing activity in other parts of Boulder and Broomfield Counties was still sparse reflecting continued tight inventory in those areas.
Sell through rate is a calculation, commonly represented as a percentage, that measures the amount of inventory sold within a given period, relative to the amount of inventory received within the same period. The sell-through rate metric is a key indicator used by retail businesses that stock product but is applicable to real estate as well and useful as an indicator of market activity. In real estate this helpful metric reveals how fast a given market turns over (i.e. puts under contract) new listing inventory within a certain period. A high rate is an indication that most of the new inventory on the market is sold in that period. A low or declining sell-through-rate can indicate that there isn’t enough demand to absorb new listings, or could simply reflect seasonal activity swings.
Over the past several years Boulder and Broomfield counties have tracked with the U.S. housing market and had a persistent shortage of homes for sale. Effectively buyers have had limited choices. Now many buyers that are still motivated to acquire a new home amid the pandemic will likely have even fewer choices.
In the short to medium term, local real estate professionals expect to see more listings enter the market as the spread of the coronavirus slows and restrictions on various aspects of public life continue to be lifted. Economic and housing recovery will continue to vary from place to place but, barring any setbacks, it appears that Boulder and Broomfield are already on track for a recovery.