Measuring buyer demand in a different way, the ShowingTime Showing Index compares the number of appointments made for virtual or in-person showings to the number of properties on the market. The index began tracking numbers in 2014, which it uses as a baseline. The index’s president told the New York Times that this is unique because there are not many indexes providing context for upcoming sales. The index dropped dramatically in April, but experienced the largest jump recorded in September, which confirms spikes in demand.
The figures below are drawn from ShowingTime’s scheduling products, which are used to book home showings by many of the major brokerages including Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s, Century 21, Douglas Elliman, Compass, Redfin and others. In September, about seven million showings were booked nationally, raising the total for 2020 to just over 60 million.
While the rebound is good for sellers and brokers who make those sales, for buyers it’s a further illustration of how challenging it is to buy a home today. There just aren’t enough to go around.
Related Stories
New-Home Sales
Winning Strategies for Selling New-Construction Homes
Recent market conditions have taught home builders some valuable sales lessons and have also forced builders to take a hard look at how they're engaging homebuyers in order to meet rising expectations
Market Data + Trends
Homeownership Survey Results: Adapt Your Strategy for Shifting Consumer Sentiment
A recent survey about homeownership finds that while consumers believe in homeownership, many think now is not the right time to buy
Market Data + Trends
Existing Home Sales Declined for 11th Consecutive Month in December
As soaring home prices continued their longest streak on record, existing home sales slowed for the 11th month in a row in December 2022
