Home showing traffic continued to slow in December across much of the country, but at a slower pace than it was earlier in the fall, according to ShowingTime’s Showing Index released Monday.
Despite recording a 32.2% annual decline, national home showing traffic was still above seasonal pre-pandemic levels in December. While showing traffic was down 3.7% from November, it was a much smaller month-over-month decline than the 8.8% drop recorded from October to November.
Of the four major U.S. regions, the West was the only region to post a monthly increase in showing traffic in December, rising 2.7% from the month prior. ShowingTime attributed the increase to major Western metros seeing an uptick in home buying activity at the close of the year.
The Midwest and Northeast posted respective monthly declines of 3.8% and 6.1%, and the South remained relatively flat compared to the month prior. All four regions posted sizable declines on a yearly basis, with the West dropping most significantly at 57.2%.
“There are early signals — including the small bounce back of showings in Western markets — that buyers are responding to December’s improvement in mortgage rates,” Mike Lane, vice president of sales and industry for ShowingTime+, said in a statement. “We expect that more buyers will reemerge as we head into spring, and that we’ll see this reflected in home showing activity.”
According to ShowingTime, most for-sale properties averaged between two and seven showings in December, roughly the same as the several months prior.
The number of showings to listings for most of the major metro areas remained relatively flat month over month, aside from two notable exceptions: San Francisco (4.52 showings to listings) and Boise (2.83), which equate to monthly increases of 26% and 75%, respectively. All of the 24 metro areas analyzed posted year-over-year declines in showing traffic, with Austin (3.84) and Seattle (6.51) recording the largest annual drops at 58%.
