SANTA CLARA, Calif.,
Dec. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/
-- Historically, April launched the kickoff of the home
shopping season as buyers would come out of their winter
hibernation looking for their new home. However, the spring
shopping season now starts in January for many of the nation's
largest markets, according to new research released today by
realtor.com®.
The analysis is based on average monthly views per listing on
realtor.com® from 2015 to 2019. In 2015, the
peak month for average views per listing on
realtor.com® was April, while January lagged
behind by a substantial 16 percent.
In contrast, for 2019, the month of January fell 1 percent below
February for most monthly views per listing on
realtor.com®. And January surged to the top in 20
of the 100 largest metro areas, including New York, Los
Angeles, Chicago,
Dallas, Houston, Seattle, San
Francisco, Atlanta,
San Jose, Calif., and Denver. In 2018, that was true for just three
of the top 100 metros.
"As shoppers modify their strategies for navigating a housing
market that has become more competitive due to rising prices and
low inventory, the search for a home is beginning earlier and
earlier," said realtor.com® Senior Economist
George Ratiu. "With housing
inventory across the U.S. expected to reach record lows in 2020, we
expect to see this trend continue into the new year."
As of November, the number of homes for sale across the country
was down 9.5 percent year-over-year. Additionally, the inventory of
entry-level homes priced below $200,000 shrunk by an astonishing 16.5 percent
year-over-year.
The shift to January's newfound popularity does not mean that
the other prime spring months have become less competitive.
Realtor.com® data shows that views per
listing used to ramp up into spring, but now competition starts
high in January and stays high.
For example, in 2018, March, the most competitive month, had 21
percent more views per listing than the least competitive month,
January. In 2019, that gap between most-and least-competitive
months narrowed to a difference of just six percent. What used to
be a lopsided bias for April is now a feverish search starting in
January, staying consistently competitive across the first four
months of the year as hopeful homebuyers look for just the right
home.
Locally, Seattle had the
greatest spike in home shopping in January
2019, with views per property 32 percent higher than the
next-highest month. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission,
Texas; San Francisco;
Atlanta; and San Jose, Calif. metros rounded out the top
five markets where January was the most competitive month in
2019.
Top Markets Where January was the Most Competitive Month in
2019
Metro
|
Metro Size Rank by
(Households)
|
January Views per
Listing vs Next Highest Month
|
Next Highest Month(s)
in 2019
|
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
|
14
|
31.7%
|
April
|
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
|
90
|
12.4%
|
May
|
San
Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, Calif.
|
11
|
11.9%
|
February
|
Atlanta-Sandy
Springs-Roswell, Ga.
|
9
|
11.6%
|
April
|
San
Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
|
36
|
7.2%
|
February
|
Houston-The
Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas
|
5
|
6.7%
|
February
|
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.
|
20
|
6.6%
|
February
|
Urban Honolulu,
Hawaii
|
65
|
5.7%
|
March/April
|
Dallas-Fort
Worth-Arlington, Texas
|
4
|
5.6%
|
February/April
|
San Antonio-New
Braunfels, Texas
|
27
|
5.3%
|
April
|
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Conn.
|
60
|
4.8%
|
February
|
Las
Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, Nev.
|
33
|
4.4%
|
March
|
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.
|
3
|
3.0%
|
February
|
New
York-Newark-Jersey City, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.
|
1
|
2.2%
|
February
|
Raleigh,
N.C.
|
46
|
1.8%
|
February
|
Los Angeles-Long
Beach-Anaheim, Calif.
|
2
|
1.7%
|
March
|
Jackson,
Miss.
|
100
|
1.1%
|
April
|
Salt Lake City,
Utah
|
52
|
0.8%
|
April
|
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, N.C.-S.C.
|
24
|
0.8%
|
February
|
Chattanooga,
Tenn.-Ga.
|
99
|
0.8%
|
February/April
|
Methodology
Views per listing are defined as the
average monthly page views per property listed for sale on
realtor.com®, cited here at the national and
metro area levels.
About realtor.com®
Realtor.com®, The Home of Home
Search℠, offers the most MLS-listed for-sale listings among
national real estate portals, and access to information, tools and
professional expertise that help people move confidently through
every step of their home journey. Through its Opcity platform,
realtor.com® uses data science and machine learning to connect
consumers with a real estate professional based on their specific
buying and selling needs. Realtor.com® pioneered the world of
digital real estate 20 years ago, and today is a trusted resource
for home buyers, sellers and dreamers by making all things home
simple, efficient and enjoyable. Realtor.com® is operated by News
Corp [Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA] [ASX: NWS, NWSLV] subsidiary Move, Inc.
under a perpetual license from the National Association of
REALTORS®. For more information, visit realtor.com®.
Media Contact: Cody Horvat -
cody.horvat@move.com
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SOURCE realtor.com