According to ShowingTime’s Showing Index, December saw slowing home showing traffic across most of the country. However, this was slower than in the fall.
Despite a 32.2% annual decrease, national home traffic was still higher than seasonal pre-pandemic levels for December. Although showing traffic was down 3.7% in November, it was still a smaller monthly decline than the 8.8% decrease recorded between October and November.
The West, which saw a 2.7% increase in traffic from December 2012, was the only major U.S. region to see a monthly increase in traffic. ShowingTime attributed this increase to major Western metros experiencing an uptick of home buying activity at year’s end.
The Midwest and Northeast saw respective monthly declines in 3.8% and 6.1% respectively, while the South was relatively stable compared to the previous month. All four regions experienced significant declines over the past year, with the West showing the most dramatic drop at 57.2%.
“There are early signs — including the small rebound of showings in Western market — that buyers are responding December’s improvement mortgage rates,” Mike Lane (Vice President of Sales and Industry for ShowingTime+) stated in a statement. “We expect more buyers to reemerge as spring approaches, and this will be reflected in home-showing activity.”
ShowingTime reports that most properties for sale had between two to seven showings in December. This is roughly the same number as the previous months.
The majority of major metro areas saw a steady increase in showings to listings month over month. Two notable exceptions were San Francisco (4.52 showings, listings) and Boise (2.83), both of which correspond to monthly increases of 26% & 75%, respectively. All 24 metro areas were analyzed and showed a decline in showing traffic year over year, with Austin (3.84) recording the largest annual drop at 58%.