San Diego home sales had their biggest annual drop since the Great Recession in April as the effect of COVID-19 hit the housing market.
There were 2,499 home sales in April, down 30 percent from the same time last year, according to CoreLogic data released Tuesday by DQNews. The last time there was a year-over-year drop of that magnitude was March 2008.
Unlike the Great Recession, there was not a corresponding drop in home prices in April. The median home price reached $594,500, around 50,000 less than the record high reached in November.
The data is the first sign of what the housing market could look like in the age of the virus. Sales in April reflect purchases that began in March as stay-at-home orders swept the nation. While fear of economic insecurity stopped some potential buyers, another major factor in the slowdown was likely many sellers taking homes off the market to wait out the virus.
In March, when most of the sales reflected in April data took place, there were about 5,160 homes listed for sale, said the Redfin Data Center, a drop of 27 percent from the same time last year. It said that around the same time, de-listings, or homes being taken off the market, made up 8 percent of the market.
read more at: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/story/2020-05-19/san-diego-home-sales-nosedive-price-mostly-unchanged
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