National Association of Realtors survey shows hope among real estate pros

With an expected slowdown in spring real estate business activity, many real estate agents remain hopeful for a post-pandemic market rebound, according to a new survey from the National Association of Realtors. They believe buyers and sellers will return to the market after the crisis ends.

“Home sales will decline this spring season because of unique economic and social consequences resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, but much of the activity looks to reappear later in the year,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. “Home prices will remain stable because of a pandemic-induced reduction in inventory coupled with less immediate concerns over foreclosures.”

The survey was delivered to a random sample of 92,630 association members. The survey had 5,855 usable responses. The response rate was 6.3%. For 93% of respondents, most of the business they do is residential. For 5% of the respondents the majority of their business is commercial. Emergencies were declared in states where 89% of the respondents are located and 83% work in a local market where there are presumed or confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Nearly six out of 10 members said buyers are delaying home purchases for a couple of months, while a similar share of members said sellers are delaying home sales for a couple of months.

Of those who are currently working with sellers, 72% said that no sellers have reduced the price to attract buyers. Sales prices were reduced by 5% or less according to 16% of the members. Only 2% reported 15% or more reductions.

The survey found 63% of members reporting that buyers are expecting a decline in home prices. Of this share, 16% expect a less than 5% decrease and the largest portion, 23%,  expect a decrease by 5% to 10%.

About 26% of members cited being able to complete nearly all aspects of transactions while respecting social distance. With minor modifications such as using masks and gloves, 34% held person-to-person interactions where still required. Stay-at-home mandates prevented 18% from completing transactions.

Of those who work with residential tenants, one-third of property managers cited having no issues with their tenants paying the rent, compared with more than half of individual landlords.

There were 46% of property managers reporting that they’ve been able to accommodate their tenants who cannot pay rent and 21% said it was difficult to do so. As for individual landlords themselves, 27% reported being able to accommodate their tenants who cannot pay rent and 21% cited it being difficult. Small portions ”“ less than 10% ”“ of property managers and individual landlords reported tenants had been terminating their leases.

The National Association of Realtors is America”™s largest trade association, representing more than 1.4 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.