It’s no surprise that buying and selling houses has changed during this pandemic. It’s hard to say if these new practices will remain in place in the future or if things will go back to the way they were before COVID-19 hit. I suspect that at least some things will be forever changed, such as the number of people allowed into a home for a showing at one time or the safety measures taken to keep agents, sellers, and potential buyers healthy. The following image is a screenshot of a chart created by ShowingTime, partner of Georgia Realtors, that compares the percent change in number of home showings in Georgia from January 7 to July 7 of 2019 and 2020.

Data created by ShowingTime using information collected by Georgia Realtors

It is obvious that March and April saw a decrease in their typical number of showings. I’ve said in previous posts that spring is typically peak residential real estate season. The 2019 numbers reflect that by showing an increase during spring months. However, 2020 has been a wild ride. Showings decreased by nearly 50% by the beginning of April. The good news is that by mid-April, showings started to increase again and the numbers seem to be back on par with what they were expected to be. It will be interesting to come back to this data at the end of the year to see how things turn out in the late summer and fall months. It looks like the data is updated frequently, so check back periodically to see updates at the link below.