With the San Francisco Bay Area’s population under lockdown, just like most U.S. markets in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, its home sales have plummeted by 35% year over year, according to Zillow economist Jeff Tucker.
“Starting around March 16th we saw traffic on Zillow listings, on our website and on our apps, plummeted 30 percent pretty much over night starting at that point,” Tucker said.
Just like every other market under lockdown, open houses are impossible in the Bay Area. And just like in other markets, agents are holding online home tours and using 3-D programs to give prospective buyers the chance to see properties, but they can only do so much.
Nova Real Estate agent Kymberly Simmons-Greene said that buyers and sellers are still interested, but are “trying to figure out how they can go about connecting and dealing with the properties and the transactions.”
Others aren’t though. They’re taking breathers to see what happens to interest rates, the economy, and home prices before they pull the trigger on a deal.
