SEATTLE, May 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: RDFN) — The effects of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent shutdowns hit the housing market in full force in April—according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage—with sales and listings both turning in historic declines from year-ago levels. In the past two months, the housing market has seen the fastest slowdown on record as it flipped from one of the strongest markets ever at the end of February to a near standstill in April.

However, while the April housing market felt the full force of coronavirus, Redfin's latest data shows that buy-side demand has exceeded pre-pandemic levels. More details of current housing demand can be found in Redfin's weekly market report. 

Home sales in April plunged 22.5% from a year ago, as did both the number of homes newly listed for sale (-42.4%) and the number of homes available for sale (-24.5%). Home prices were still up from a year ago, but the rate of growth in the U.S. median home sale price stumbled slightly to 4.9% year over year, down from 6.9% in March. The national median sale price in April was $303,895.

April home sales fell 23% nationwide from March on a seasonally-adjusted basis, by far the largest decline on record (Redfin data for this statistic goes back to January 2012). In general, markets with the biggest declines in home sales from a year ago were the most expensive, although due to especially tight restrictions on real estate during the shutdown, Detroit was also one of the three markets where sales slowed the most: San Francisco (-53.9%), Detroit (-46.8%) and New York (-45.8%).

"The supply of homes for sale declined even more dramatically than homebuyer demand in April," said Redfin lead economist Taylor Marr. "While home sales fell the most in more expensive markets, in more affordable areas prices continued to increase. Even during the depths of the slowdown last month the market was still faster and more competitive than it was a year earlier."

Many of the nation's most affordable housing markets are continuing to see sizable price gains. Nine of the top 10 metro areas where home prices rose the most year over year still had median prices below the national level, led in April by Detroit, (median price $159,900, +27.9%), Memphis ($217,000 +22.0%) and Philadelphia ($250,000, +19.0%).

The national count of active listings of homes for sale fell 24.5% year over year during April, the biggest drop on record and the eighth straight month of declines. There were fewer homes for sale last month than any time since at least January 2012, which is as far back as Redfin has recorded this measure. None of the 85 largest metros tracked by Redfin posted a year-over-year increase in the count of seasonally-adjusted active listings of homes for sale.

So far, the pandemic has only slightly slowed the rapid gains Redfin had been seeing earlier in the year in the sales prices of homes.

"The typical time between when a home went under contract and when the sale closes is still about four weeks nationally," explained Marr. "This means that many of the homes sold in April went under contract after the WHO declared that COVID-19 was a global pandemic, after initial claims for unemployment set new records, and after case numbers were already growing rapidly in the U.S. So, although some might have expected this dramatic disruption in the market to impact home prices, we haven't yet seen evidence that it has had much of an effect."

One thing that may be helping to prop up prices is low mortgage rates, which were as low as 3.29% during the first week of March when many offers were made on homes that sold in April. This was 1.12 percentage points lower than the same week of 2019, a monthly savings of $156 on the mortgage payment of the median-priced home.

Other measures of the market showed how competitive it was in April, despite lockdowns across the nation. Homes sold faster and a greater share sold for over list price than a year ago, clearly indicating that it is still a seller's market.

Homes that sold in April spent six fewer days on market compared to the prior year. In April, the typical home went under contract in 35 days, compared to 41 days in April 2019.

To view the full report, including charts and methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/housing-market-news-april-2020/

About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer's favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country's #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry's lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 90 major metro areas across the U.S. and Canada. The company has helped customers buy or sell homes worth more than $115 billion.

For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin's press release distribution list, email press@redfin.com. To view Redfin's press center, click here.

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SOURCE Redfin