The coronavirus pandemic and state-wide stay-at-home order has put a serious dent in Miami Valley home sales, which dropped significantly in April.
According to the Dayton Area Board of Realtors, single-family home and condominium sales dropped more than twenty-two percent in April - compared to the same month last year. Those are the lowest April sales numbers since 2014.
Pat Bradley-Falke with Re/Max in the Miami Valley says she’s optimistic that the housing market will stay strong, but time will tell.
“We hope that that's going to be temporary here because we're starting to slowly open up our local economy,” she said. “But the concern is that we're going to see this lag time with furloughs and what the future is going to hold because of people losing jobs.”
The market is only slightly down from where it was at this time last year and data indicates home prices are still on an upward trend. Falke says real estate agents are still “carefully busy” with clients — using personal protective equipment and adhering to social distancing guidelines.
Still, the long-time realtor says restrictive credit requirements will become an issue for potential buyers. During tough economic times, investors and lenders avoid higher risk loans, which will certainly affect first-time home buyers and Veterans applying for FHA and VA loans.
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