Virginia REALTORS^® focused this week’s member survey on the impact COVID-19 is having on the housing market in Virginia as we head into June. In addition, we wanted to know what Virginia REALTORS^® think the impact of Phase 1 of the Governor’s reopening plan will be on their local housing markets. This survey suggests that the market is performing much better than it was two months ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, and many REALTORS^® expect that Phase 1 of the reopening plan will help the real estate industry. This week, we received responses from 796 Virginia REALTORS^®.

Highlights from the May 29-30, 2020 survey include:

• Nearly half (47.0%) of Virginia REALTORS^® report that they experienced no impact from COVID-19 over the past week. This is a significant improvement over the past two months. At the end of March, only 17.9% of Virginia REALTORS^® said that COVID-19 had had no impact on their business.
• According to Virginia REALTORS^®, buyers are returning to the market. In the week ending May 30, only about a quarter (27.8%) of Virginia REALTORS^® say that buyers are delaying their home search as a result of COVID-19. That share was much higher two months ago; nearly 60% of REALTORS^® said buyers were delaying at the end of March.
  • Comparing Virginia to the rest of the country, according to the National Association of REALTORS^®‘ most recent member survey, 34% of REALTORS^® nationwide say that buyers are delaying their home search, slightly higher than here in Virginia.

• At the end of May, fewer sellers are pausing on listing their homes compared to two months ago. In the weekend ending May 30, 2020, 26.8% of Virginia REALTORS^® report sellers are postponing bringing new listings to market, down from 45.5% back at the end of March. Only 9.0% of Virginia REALTORS^® report sellers canceling open houses, and just 6.2% of REALTORS^® report sellers removing their home from the market completely.
  • According to NAR, 38% of REALTOR^® members nationwide say sellers are delaying selling their home.

Respondents to the survey were asked how much an impact they thought Phase 1 of the Governor’s reopening plan for Virginia will have on their local housing market. About 55% of Virginia REALTORS^® say that Phase 1 will have a major or modest positive impact on local housing markets. About 30% say they expect no real impact. About 3% say that they expect Phase 1 to have a negative impact on their local housing market, and about 12% say that they do not know or are not sure.

A note about surveys: This is not a randomized sample survey of Virginia REALTORS^® members. However, the number of responses and the geographic coverage of respondents make it possible to draw conclusions about the population of Virginia REALTORS^® conducting business in the prior week with a certain level of confidence. These statistics from this survey have a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.

Virginia REALTORS^® will continue to monitor the economy and housing market in Virginia. New information is updated on the Virginia REALTORS^® website. Each Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m., we will host a Facebook Live on the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the housing market. For more information, please contact Lisa Sturtevant at lsturtevant@virginiarealtors.org.