Nearly four months ago, the final two weeks of the first quarter, brought never-before-seen conditions to the Manhattan real estate market. Today, we're starting to see a glimpse of what the new reality will look like as technology plays a larger role in real estate and consumer preferences shift. As a result of the global pandemic and a halt on physical showings, contract activity in Q2 this year fell 73% lower than in Q2 2019. After a three month COVID-19 real estate shutdown, physical showings have resumed in the New York real estate markets. Just like that, with showings now being legal again, we saw a 30% jump in inventory compared to last month. If the pandemic is controlled and conditions continue to improve in the city, we can also expect pent-up demand for real estate overall in Q3.
Pent Up Demand? The week after New York City entered phase 2 of its reopening, contract activity increased 41%, reaching the highest numbers since the end of March, when the country shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak. New listings also increased 57% during the first week of phase 2, reaching a level not seen since early March.
All Time Low Mortgage Rates, But Tighter Restrictions Mortgage rates reached a new all-time-low last week: The average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.07%, down from 3.13% the week prior and 3.75% a year ago this time. That is a roughly $200 per month savings on a $500,000 mortgage.
Having said this, only the most qualified are getting these benefits. Banks have pulled back sharply on lending to U.S. consumers during COVID-19. One reason: They can’t tell who is creditworthy anymore. Millions of Americans are out of work and behind on their debts. But, in many cases, the missed payments aren’t reflected in their credit scores, nor are they uniformly recorded on borrowers’ credit reports. The confusion stems from a provision in the government’s coronavirus stimulus package. The law says lenders that allow borrowers to defer their debt payments can’t report these payments as late to credit-reporting companies.
Compass Launches Compass Lens To Advise on Renovations Since launching Compass Concierge, a service that covers part of the cost of your home renovation, less than 2 years ago, there have been over 15,000 Compass Concierge listings and 20% of Compass listings are currently Concierge listings. It has been a game-changing service that we’ve been able to offer our clients.
Compass has now introduced Compass Lens, a cutting-edge technology to virtually show our sellers what a buyer-ready home looks like through Compass Concierge. Compass Lens uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to give you the power to visualize how Compass Concierge can transform your home and improve its sale price. By matching a photo of your home to similar before & after photos, you’ll be able to see exactly the difference some upgrades can make.
We Stand Together Our CEO, Robert Reffkin, has called upon companies to diversify their boards. Further, Compass set up a pledge for agents to commit to allocate 15% of real estate vendor spend to Black professionals. Click here to watch the full interview.
