Home Buying Activity Continues To Slowly Slow, But Low Inventory Likely A Contributing Factor
Scott P. Rogers
The pace of buyers signing contracts to purchase homes continues to slowly slow in 2020 -- with year-to-date contract activity in 2020 now 7% lower than during the same timeframe in 2019.
A few contextual notes...
- We should likely not underestimate the impact of lower inventory levels. Some sellers are waiting to put their houses on the market, which is not giving would-be buyers as many homes to buy.
- This 7% decline in contract activity is only a 5% decline when comparing 2020 to 2018. Thus, this year is slower than normal, but last year might have been more active than normal.
- There were more contract in 2020 all the way through mid-April-ish, so this downward trend in buyer activity has largely all taken place over the past 30 to 35 days.
