FROM CAR: The Market & Industry: COVID-19 suppresses spring home buying season in California. Effect on home prices is so far modest.
While home sales actually rose on an unadjusted basis in all California regions from February to March, the pandemic has suppressed the start of the spring home buying season. March typically sees a larger uptick than was observed this year, causing existing home sales to fall on a seasonally adjusted basis by 11.5 percent. Thus far, the pandemic has had only a modest effect on home prices.
While statewide listings and pending sales are declining, the rates of decline have not been as steep as in weeks past. Southern California and the Central Valley even experienced their first increases in the number of new listings since C.A.R. began tracking daily data in early March, and the Bay Area has seen two consecutive weeks of increases.
National new housing starts tumbled by 23.3 percent in March, the biggest drop in nearly 40 years. In a survey from the National Association of Home Builders, 90 percent of respondents reported a slowdown in remodel inquiries and customers’ willingness to proceed with a remodel.
Sources: C.A.R. Research & Economics, Los Angeles Times, CNBC, National Association of Home Builders, Zillow Research, Housing Wire, Federal Housing Finance Agency, REALTOR® Magazine, The Real Deal, Inman News
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