PARMA, Ohio — The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has reached the real estate market.
A national report from Zillow, a real estate marketplace, said home prices are falling and there's a steep decline in home sales.
But a local real estate agent, Michelle Green, said it's important to remember - home buying and selling is unique in each market.
Green, with HER Realtors in Parma, said listings are down about 30% in Cuyahoga County compared to this time last year. But as far as home values are concerned, they've held steady despite the pandemic.
Partly due to a low inventory level.
"The inventory is more the issue. Because of the stay at home order, a lot of people are concerned with complying so they're not listing their homes out of precaution," Green said.
The realtor of 15 years predicts listings will pick up as the state continues to reopen.
"I think there are a lot of people anxiously awaiting us to get back to some kind of business as usual," Green said. "But we're also trying to do it as cautiously as we can."
Green said first-time home buyers looking to score a major deal, due to the virus, is not likely.
"Because again, the lack of inventory. But what we are seeing is, homes selling for what they're worth. So they're not necessarily selling at a great discount or extremely overpaying. But as an industry, we're trying to price them more aggressively to what the fair market value is," she said.
Green said it's hard to predict what could happen to the market in the later months of the year, as medical experts point to a possible second outbreak of the virus. But, she believes spring and summer months will look close to typical with the virus having more of a short-term impact, rather than a long-term impact.
