By Chris Stroud and Brittany Murphy

HouseCanary, a leading provider of residential property data for real estate market participants and customer engagement solutions for lenders, has released a new report examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. housing market. The HouseCanary research team has been analyzing patterns in listing volume, new listings and median listing price information for 41 states and 50 individual Metropolitan Statistical Areas (“MSAs”) for the period March 2019 through March 2021.

Our report finds that the following trends occurred during the first 12 months of the pandemic:

• There was a significant decrease in housing inventory. The U.S. experienced a 32.5% percent drop in housing supply from March 2020 to March 2021. This record decline was partially the result of rising costs of supplies, such as lumber, which have been hard to come by during the pandemic due to global supply chain issues.

• Homebuyer demand grew stronger. The number of listings under contract rose 4.6% during the first year of the pandemic, outpacing 2019’s figures. This spike in demand occurred as mortgage rates sat near historic lows, government relief arrived, and millions of Americans yearned for more space in the new work-from-home environment.

• Americans moved faster than prior to the pandemic. Homes spent a median of 12 fewer days on the market compared to the same period the year prior. This was fueled, in part, by an increasing number of buyers chasing an ever-shrinking set of available inventory throughout 2020.

• Prices soared. Across the U.S., the median listing price increased by 15.0% while the median closing price jumped 18.7% from March 2020 to March 2021. During the same period, the median listing price per sq ft increased by 19.0% and the median closing price per sq ft rose 17.5%

At bottom, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented supply imbalance in the U.S. housing market. We look forward to continuing to provide distinct market insights throughout the year. 

• To learn more about HouseCanary Solutions, contact [email protected].

• To learn more about ComeHome by HouseCanary, our distinct customer engagement platform, visit: www.housecanary.com/products/comehome.