March home sales increased 2.7 percent year-over-year in the 52 markets examined in the RE/MAX National Housing Report.
RE/MAX said March was the fourth consecutive month with year-over-year increases in U.S. home sales – a streak not seen since 2016. However, the spread of COVID-19 and government measures to slow it dampened the month’s overall sales results.
“As expected, the strong market of January and February continued into March, setting up a very good first quarter,” RE/MAX Holdings CEO Adam Contos said in a release. “But then the coronavirus and the initial mitigation measures arrived, disrupting our industry along with everything else.
“Conditions and restrictions vary throughout the country, so some areas continue to see new listings, pendings and closings, while other markets have slowed dramatically – especially where real estate was not deemed an essential service,” Contos said. “It’s a fluid situation. We believe that interest in buying or selling remains high, and pent up-demand in many places should drive sales higher over time.”
RE/MAX said March’s year-over-year sales growth of less than 3 percent was significantly less than December 2019 through February 2020, where year-over-year sales increases averaged 10 percent. March sales increased 23.8 percent over February – the lowest such increase for this time period in the report’s nearly 12-year history.
The report found that March inventory declined 14.9 percent year-over-year, continuing a streak that began in July 2019. The median sales price in March was $265,000, 7.7 percent higher than a year ago, setting a report record for the month of March.