May 2, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a stick in the spokes of real estate, so to speak, but the market impact thus far probably isn't what you think.
As you might expect, activity is down. Fewer buyers are out looking for homes. In a normal year, April sees activity go up, but this year, it went down. And compared to 2019, activity for April will be down about 35%.
But that's where the bad news stops, as you can see in these charts:
Home prices in Alachua County have remained about the same. The average Alachua County home sold for about $275k in April, which was the same in both February & March. Compare that to 2019, when the average home sold for about $245k in that same span.
It's important to remember that inventory is still very low. So, buyers have very little to choose from and therefore prices aren't dropping like many "experts" thought they would. Many sellers have pulled their listings and so the buyers who are looking to buy are finding limited options.
Lots of pundits want to compare this economic slide to 2008, but in that go-round, we had tons of inventory. In most price points, Alachua County is still under 6 months supply, which is considered low. As long as that doesn't markedly change, we should not see any major downturn in values.
