We knew the statistics for residential real estate in April were going to be rough. It was the first full month the “Stay at Home” order would have been in place. They were….
2020 started as very strong real estate market, but hit a wall in the middle of March when the COVID-19 economic limitations of the lockdown kicked in.
Instead of comparing April San Fernando Valley statistics against March, a better example of the change in the market is to compare April 2020 to April 2019.
2019 2020
New listings 1653 878
Total Listing 2724 1947
Opened Escrows 1316 629
Closed Escrows 1192 689
BOM to Sale Ratio 36%
Across the board the sales are half what they were in 2019. The BOM (Back on Market) statistic of 36% is very telling. It reflects that over 1/3 of the recent escrows opened were canceled. That was a result of several elements. Some buyer’s down payments were affected by the stock market dropping, buyer’s income dropping and jobs being furloughed, lender’s underwriting guidelines tightening because of the liquidity of the mortgage market having issues, buyer’s getting cold feet or attempting to renegotiate the price, etc.
Timing’s everything. This isn’t the recession we dealt with in 2009. This market will stabilize, but it’ll be a couple months till the economic issues created by COVID ease up. We’re already seeing increasing activity, but it’s far from normal.
If you’re looking to buy, sell, or refinance real estate, it’s critical to strategize your timing on making a move based on your specific scenario.
If you are in the Los Angeles area, have any questions or real estate sales or financing needs, feel free in contacting me
Ron Henderson GRI, RECS, CIAS
President/Broker
Multi Real Estate Services, Inc.
Gov’t Affairs Chair – California Association of Mortgage Professionals (2017-2018)
Chairman – OutWest Marketing Meeting (Real Estate Education)
BRE #00905793 NMLS #310358
www.mres.com
ronh@mres.com
Specialist in the Art of Real Estate Sales and Finance
Real Estate market, mortgage rates, Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Conejo Valley, Simi Valley, Woodland Hills, West Hills, Calabasas, Chatsworth
Leave a Reply