Image | WBJ | Micah Wingell
April 22, 2020
Outbreak didn't deter Worcester area home market in March
Photo | Grant Welker
A home for sale in Worcester
By Grant Welker
The coronavirus outbreak didn't keep Worcester-area homeowners from listing their properties for sale in March or from buying new ones.
While the toll of the pandemic and the business, school and other closures it forced didn't take effect until later in the month, lower new-listing rates and number of sales were seen nationally and in the Boston metropolitan area, according to Redfin, a national real estate brokerage.
They weren't for the Worcester metro area, however.
New listings in Greater Worcester were actually up in March compared to the same month a year ago — by 3.2% when adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, according to Redfin. The area had 1,191 seasonally adjusted listings last month.
In the Boston area, new listings were down year-to-year by 14.5% to 4,512 for March. Nationally, listings were down 10.8% to 551,566.
Home sale closures around Worcester also bucked the trend, rising 3.0% to 1,048 last month.
The Boston area had a 5.2% drop in sales to 4,207, while national sales were down 1.2% to 511,043.
Active listings, which weren't available locally, were down 13% nationally year-to-year.
Redfin's analysts noted in their monthly report how unusual the March data was, even as the reality of the pandemic's economic hit was only just coming into focus.
"At the beginning of March, the housing market was stronger than ever, with February marking the eighth straight month of increases in home sales, and the U.S. economy was relatively stable," the brokerage said. "By the end of March, that run had come to an end and everything had been thrown into extreme disarray as the spread of the coronavirus turned the housing market upside down. Therefore, the picture we get by looking at the entire month as a whole will understate the stalled condition of the market as we headed into April."
If the shutdown is impacting home sale prices, Redfin said, it likely won't be clear until April and May data, which reflect homes that went under contract in March and April.
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