For the March recap, we will, again, only review condominiums as the sample sizes for single-family’s and multi-family’s are too small to gather any trends. In our quarterly report, we will include singles and multis. Also, in the interest of disclosure, the source of our data was from MLS.

Although the Covid-19 state of emergencies were in place for the second half of March, surprisingly, the front-line data, i.e. current listings, pending sales and days on the market, showed very little drop off from the February, 2020 numbers and the year over year numbers from March, 2019.

There were 44 condominiums that closed (real buyers) in March, an increase of 82.6% from the 23 in February, and an increase of 20% from March, 2019. This increase shows how strong the real estate market was in January and February before the virus. Keep in mind, that there’s a 45-60 day lag time from offer to closing. We do anticipate the April closing numbers to drop-off a bit due to Covid-19 as closing dates are getting extended, and the number of accepted offers in March was down 7.4% from February. We expect to see the real effect of the virus in the May & June data.

We listed our specific comments for March, 2020, below each graph.

As we mentioned in the introduction, the number of closed transactions in March (44) was an increase of 82.6% from February. The median sales price was $848,500 and the median living space was 1,143 square feet.

 

The overall median price per square foot for the 44 closed transactions in March was $766 and the median living area for those sales was 1,143 SF. This graph shows the median price per square foot for each price band. This graph will have more meaning in a half-year or yearly recap when the graph will resemble a reverse step graph.

 

The median living area for the 44 sales in March was 1,143 SF. This graph breaks down the median living area for each price band. I’ll put more stock in this graph in the quarterly or yearly reports when the sample sizes are larger.

 

There were 50 units that went under agreement in March, a decrease of 7.5% from the 54 in February. This is one of the frontline indicators that we will be watching closely in April and May.

 

Days on Market (DOM) is a measurement of the age of a listing(s) in MLS and can be used a gauge to test the relative strength and direction a market. The overall DOM in March (46), decreased from 57 in February. The graph shows the DOM for each price band.

 

The number of active listings decreased from 87 in February to 80 in March, an 8% drop-off. We suspect that this was due to both absorption and sellers declining to list their properties during the pandemic.

 

The overall month’s supply for condos decreased from 1.8 to 1.65 as the the current listings decreased by 8%. As we have mentioned previously, a healthy inventory for most markets is 4-6 month’s supply.