The California Association of Realtors is urging the housing industry “take a cautious response” to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The rapid growth of COVID-19 cases continues to create turbulence in the global economy and in domestic financial markets,” CAR said in a statement.”
CAR is not revising its current 2020 housing market forecast, “but will continue to monitor the market for negative macroeconomic impacts on the demand for housing as well as the supply chain impacts that could adversely affect the cost of new home construction in the coming months and quarters.”
The statement was in response to California Governor Gavin Newsom declaring a state of emergency last week, after the state’s first death connected to coronavirus. As of Wednesday, March 4, the state reported more than 50 confirmed cases across 12 counties.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has announced that it will cancel conferences scheduled to take place in California later this month.
NAR’s Joint AE Institute (March 13-16 in San Diego) and REALTOR® Broker Summit (March 31-April 1 in Los Angeles) will not be held as planned in response to coronavirus concerns, particularly those emerging on the West Coast of the United States.
As the coronavirus continues to evolve, California REALTORS® expect the outbreak to negatively impact their business, primarily in the areas of home sales and time on market, according to a flash poll conducted by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.).
Highlights of the poll:
- Half of California REALTORS® expect there will be a negative impact on home sales and 49 percent said time on market will be impacted.
- Conversely, 36 percent said they expect there will be no impact on home sales or time on market (38 percent).
- Other areas that REALTORS® said would be negatively impacted were home prices (40 percent), closing (38 percent), supply (37 percent) and market competition (28 percent).
- More than one-half (55 percent) said there would be no impact on market competition, closing (53 percent) or price (45 percent).
- More than 1 in 4 REALTORS® (26 percent) said they had clients who put their home purchase or home sale on hold, and more than one-third of REALTORS® had clients asking them coronavirus market-related questions.
The survey was conducted March 6-9 via email and asked members how the coronavirus outbreak was affecting their business.
