The greater Greenville housing market as of March 31, 2020.
GGAR (Greater Greenville Association of Realtors) just posted the newest set of market stats. Some results seem logical based on the nationwide effect of COVID-19. Others are surprising. We've condensed the details into some key bullet points of usable information.
March 2020 compared to March 2019.
March 2020 was unique, in the truest sense of the word. The real estate market hasn’t ever seen a month quite like that before. It’s early, yet, to have a good sense of how our local market will respond down the road, but comparing March 2020 to March 2019 yields some interesting findings about the greater Greenville housing market.
The encouraging news:
Number of new listings was higher by 2.6%
Number of closed sales was higher by 9.2%
Average sales price rose from $237,982 to $263,050 (10.5% increase)
Months supply of inventory rose from 3.2 to 4.0
Items to watch:
The average days on market rose from 62 to 66.
Pending sales dropped from 1,451 to 570 (60.7% decrease)
Our local Housing Affordability Index dropped by 8%, from 113 to 104.
The decrease in pending sales was dramatic and a bit alarming, until you consider how difficult it is to show homes right now. Many of the virtual tours are professionally-done and lovely. However, virtual tours just don’t cut it with some buyers. They will wait until they feel safe touring the actual home. While they wait, the number of pending sales will continue to drop.
Another force compressing pending sales is lenders’ tightening of underwriting standards, particularly minimum credit score requirements.Some buyers who had been pre-approved for a loan suddenly found that they were no longer approved.
The 1st quarter of 2020 compared to the 1st quarter of 2019.
We know March was nuts, but when you consider January and February with March, how did 2020 fare in the 1st quarter? Again, the results are mixed, but encouraging overall.
Pros
New listings and closed listings were both higher in 2020 than they were for the same time period in 2019.
The average buyers received 98% of their asking price, up a smidge from 97.8% in 2019.
Average sales price increased 8.5%
Cons
Average days on market (up to 65 from 62 in the 1st quarter of 2019) bears close watching because March is usually the month when DOM starts to decline sharply as the weather improves and the market revs up for summer.
Talking points about particular segments of our market.
The segment of homes priced above $300,000 is the only segment in the greater Greenville market with an average DOM (74) is higher than realtor.com’s nationwide estimate of 60 days. One difficulty of analyzing this segment is that it covers such a huge range--literally millions of dollars. It’s hard to generalize between a home selling for $301,000 and $3,100,000.
Homes priced between $100,000 and $150,000 are typically selling in only 33 days. They are still very hard to find, with less than 2.5 months supply of inventory.
Over the last 12 months the rolling average of inventory for town homes has been significantly higher (5.6 months) than the inventory for single-family homes (3.9 months). The town home segment is approaching the benchmark dividing point between one that favors sellers to one that favors buyers
Homes priced at $100,000 or below sell very quickly, but receive an average of 93.3% of the asking price instead of the greater Greenville market average of 98%.
Stock market volatility and economic stress will continue to affect our housing market. At Walker’s Riverside Properties, we keep you abreast of those changes. Contact us for additional information or assistance with buying or selling a home.