Is Covid-19 negatively impacting the Walton High School housing market? While using a larger market, such as the greater metro Atlanta area, would likely provide better insight the following is pertinent to those with higher value homes in Walton.
The following charts contrast the number of resale listings priced $600,000+ that went under contract the first 12 week of the year.
Using the Dow Jones Industry Average as a backdrop and frame of reference it appeared that the 2020 steady decline in the number of binding agreements was in sync with the financial market. Both peaked about Week 8, and then began to decline. Is there a connection?
It seemed so, until past year’s data was collected. Several recent years mimic to a degree the current trend while other years exhibited the seasonal crescendo one has come to expect from the early spring to early summer period.
The Walton housing market provides a small data sample and therefore trends are difficult to detect. With that said, the number of binding contracts through the first 12 weeks of 2020 is well ahead of recent years. Will that pace continue?
I personally believe a slowdown has begun in the Walton area as well as across the country. There is just too much uncertainty surrounding the virus at the present to make any specific projections with a high level of confidence. Are we entering another “2008”? Time will tell. What I do believe to be certain is that anyone with a house currently on the market had better adjust their outlook (lower) if they want to reach the closing table in the next four to eight weeks.
