Major Increase in Home Showings a Very Promising Sign

By MAX MARGULEAS | Special to the Palisadian-Post

With the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic sweeping throughout the world and instilling anxiety in many, the Westside real estate market, like most industries, was initially shaken. After a few trials and tribulations enacted by the state, open houses were forced to be on pause, while private showings were eventually allowed with proper social distancing rules.

After the recent guidelines were enforced, agents were asked to quickly adapt to these swift changes. There has been an immense increase in virtual 3D tours and showings to make up for the losses followed by the open house ban.

The new addition of virtual 3D tours will continue to be heavily implemented in the future, even once the pandemic begins to slow down. After seeing an increase in popularity of virtual showings, in-person showings are now occurring with serious home buyers. Special forms (PEAD FORM) must be signed by all individuals entering the home, masks and gloves are required, and social distancing must take place.

ShowingTime is the leading market stats and showing management technology provider to the residential real estate industry. They provide data points representing a rolling weekly average for all real estate showings compared to the same time last year.

From their graph showing data for all of North America, you will see that at the bottom, the curve on April 12 of this year compared to last year saw a decrease in showings by 48%. If you were to look at the data for year-over-year showing activity up until mid-March of 2020, you would see that the activity was higher nationwide compared to that of 2019.

This is a promising statistic and is indicative of how the market will return once COVID-19 slows. As of the end of May, showings are actually up 3% compared to the same time last year.

If you look specifically at California’s statistics, you see from the chart below that the bottom of the curve was on March 28, 2020, where showings were down a whopping 68% from the previous year. California is currently within 1% of the same number of showings as we were a year ago.

We have seen this same trend in the Palisades with a noticeable increase in showings the past few weeks. It has not been uncommon for our team to have 10 showings scheduled in one day, which is a promising sign that the market is heading in the right direction.

Even more profound is the jump given the last two weeks in California, as the data shows an increase of 40% in showings.

While global financial markets were significantly impacted in the beginning of the outbreak, residential real estate has remained resilient. As of April, the median U.S. house price rose 8% year on year to hit $280,600. Real estate continues to rank as the top investment pick for the majority of Americans (35%), ahead of stocks and bonds (21%), savings accounts (17%) and gold (16%).

If the upward trend seems to follow, we will be in for a strong last finish of 2020.

Max Marguleas is a sales partner with Amalfi Estates, which has sold $1.4 billion in properties and was selected by the WSJ as one of the top 60 agents in the country out of one million agents. If you are thinking of buying a home or selling your own, contact Max at 310-383-6141 or max@amalfiestates.com.