Housing Recovery: Market Is Back With Work To Do

The housing market is officially back to pre-pandemic levels.

The realtor.com Housing Recovery Index climbed 2.5 percent to 101 for the week ending July 18, which means market activity has climbed back above the 100 benchmark established before the pandemic hit in the United States in March.

Even with the good news, realtor.com cautions that it will take months of sustained growth and an increase in new listings to make up for lost ground from earlier in the year.

“There is no blueprint for a pandemic-induced recession, but this recovery milestone is further proof that homebuyers will persevere through the biggest of storms,” said Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com. “Housing remains a must-have during COVID times, and home sales have proven to flourish even under record low levels of supply. The spring season disruptions have given an artificial boost to the summer homebuying season, the real question will be whether the market will be able to sustain that pace through the rest of the summer and going into the fall.”

Another report released by Redfin on Thursday found that listing prices of homes for sale were up 13 percent from last year to an all-time high of $328,500 during the four-week period ending July 12.

Realtor.com’s index findings for the week include:

• The Northeast (106.3) leads the recovery with the overall index now visibly above the pre-COVID benchmark. The West (105.5) remains above recovery pace and continues to improve, while the South (97.9) and Midwest (97.3) are still below recovery but regaining momentum toward recovery.
• New listings were down 15 percent year-over-year.
• Total inventory was down 33 percent compared to last year.

Half of the largest 50 markets in the country are now above the recovery benchmark, with the overall recovery index showing greatest recovery in Boston, Seattle, New York, Philadelphia and Denver: