Since the breakout of the COVID-19, lots of people have been asking the same question. How has COVID-19 affected our local real estate market? At this moment, we are still going through a lot of unknowns. Our real estate market is in a state of flux, trying to process what just happened. Here are some of our unknowns: How bad are unemployment numbers going to be? When is business activity resuming? When will COVID-19 get under control?

Part of the answer can be gleaned from the market activity numbers. Below is monthly residential activity for the following counties; Fairfax VA, Loudoun VA, and Montgomery MD. You can see the trend in the units listed; The number of homes coming on the market increases from month to month for the three counties between Jan-March 2020. Then we see a decline in April. We will likely see the same decline in May. Another interesting thing here is the decrease from month to month in the number of days on the market(DOM) for a property. DOM measures the number of days a home takes on the market before it gets an accepted offer. All the three counties again show a decline for the same period in the number of days on the market. The most likely cause of DOM is the decline in the number of homes coming on the market. Fewer homes been listed and buyers snap up homes that come on the market as soon they arrive. Another lesson one can take here is that demand for homes is holding up very well in these three counties.The strong demand for homes combined with declining inventory is helping the Median sold to continue to trend up. May and June will give us more insights into what is going on in our local market.

In the meantime, enjoy spring. It’s a good time to start a garden. You can reach me at ikanyeng456@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Numbers from BRIGHT MLS