While the stock market recovered significantly in March, the effects of COVID-19 to the economy continue to build. In just the last four weeks, more than 20 million people nationwide filed initial unemployment claims according to the United States Department of Labor, including nearly 600,000 claims filed in the State of New Jersey alone. In the face of these challenging times, real estate activity in April slowed significantly.
• Single Family Closed Sales were down 32.2 percent to 5,417.
• Townhouse-Condo Closed Sales were down 41.3 percent to 1,433.
• Adult Communities Closed Sales were down 40.2 percent to 462.
• Single Family Median Sales Price increased 6.1 percent to $350,000.
• Townhouse-Condo Median Sales Price decreased 1.9 percent to $265,000.
• Adult Communities Median Sales Price increased 4.7 percent to $225,000.
Buyers have been quicker to return to the housing market in force than sellers, who have been showing a bit more reluctance to list their homes than is typical for this time of year. But trends are improving and as states and localities continue to moderate their COVID-19 policies, real estate activity is expected to continue to improve in the coming weeks.