February ended with a median home price of $640,00 in Sonoma County, a decline of $26,000 from the month prior. Time will tell how the coronavirus pandemic will affect real estate prices locally and nationally.
The wild volatility of the financial market and shelter-in-place orders have drastically affected how realtors conduct business. A new survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors earlier this month, polled realtors across the nation to track consumer behavior.
Their key findings are as follows:
Buyers are showing less interest
NAR polled their membership base on March 16-17, and found that 48% said home buyer interest has decreased due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Sellers aren’t removing homes from the market, but they are changing how they show them.
The majority of members surveyed, 61%, reported no change in sellers removing homes from the market. With more and more communities going into lock-down, realtors are increasingly using virtual means to show homes.
The Bay Area market analysts at Compass Real Estate are also unsure how COVID-19, will affect the sales.
Realtor Peter Colbert relates, “we won’t pretend to know how things will turn out, or affect the local real estate market over the next few months. But on a positive note, “mortgage interest rates hit a historic low in early March… and rates play a huge role in housing affordability.”
For Sonoma County’s already stressed market this may mean better quality homes at better prices.
Are we already seeing this in Sonoma County?
Click through our gallery above to see some of the homes currently on the market for $640,000 or less.
