As states across the country slowly begin to reopen for business, realtor.com released a survey Monday that may suggest that homebuyers are ready to jumpstart shopping for a new house in the coming weeks and months.
The survey found increased activity on realtor.com, with listing visits, saves and shares “all up significantly since the first wave of shelter-in-place orders took effect on March 16.”
“Data suggests that home shoppers who had paused their search are now picking it back up, and the spring homebuying season won’t be lost, but merely pushed into the summer months,” said Danielle Hale, Chief Economist, realtor.com®. “Tools such as virtual tours and livestream open houses are enabling consumers to safely continue their home search while maintaining social distancing guidelines and have proven to be very popular with consumers.”
The realtor.com survey found that since March 16:
- Listing views for single family homes and condos are up 30 percent.
- Saved homes are up 76 percent.
- Shared homes are up 95 percent.
- Time spent per unique user is up 14 percent.
The growth rate of visits to listings with virtual tours has been twice as high as those without since mid-March, and user visits were also 29 percent higher for listings featuring virtual tours.
“While many consumers don’t see virtual tours as a replacement for in-person viewings, they have emerged as a valuable tool to learn more about a home, see details up close and help narrow down the search. We believe virtual tours will remain an integral part of the home search, even when shoppers feel more comfortable visiting homes in-person again,” Hale said.