Home showing traffic is continuing to rise across the U.S., according to ShowingTime’s Showing Index report released Thursday.
In March, home showing traffic was up 1% year over year and 5% month over month, with a nationwide average of 9.25 showings per listing. In total, 121 of the markets analyzed hit a double-digit ratio of showings per listing in March, up from 83 in January and 109 in February.
While demand for homes is still outpacing the slowly increasing inventory, overall, showing traffic is seeing a slight slowdown compared to a year ago, when each of the four major U.S. regions saw at least a 40% year-over-year increase in showing traffic.
“The demand per listing is still at historically unprecedented levels, but for the first time in the last 12 months it is neutral,” ShowingTime’s vice president and general manager Michael Lane said in a statement.
ShowingTime’s index is compiled using data from more than 6 million property showings scheduled across the country each month on listings using ShowingTime products and services. In addition, it tracks the average number of appointments received on active listings during the month.
The nation’s 25 busiest individual markets averaged more than 16 showings per listing. Topping the list, yet again, was Denver, Colorado, with an average of 22.36 showings per listing. Despite ranking first on the list, year over year, Denver’s showing traffic is down 12% and month over month it is down 10%.
Second on the list was Burlington, Vermont, with an average of 21.87 showings per listing, up 41% from a year ago and 6% from the prior month, and third was Seattle, Washington, with 18.30 showings per listing, down 25% from March 2021 and 21% from February.
On the other end of the spectrum were Washington, D.C., Kansas City, MO-KS, and Trenton, New Jersey, with averages of 14.64, 14.57 and 14.56 showings per listing, respectively. Of the top-25 metro areas, Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, saw the largest growth in year-over-year showing traffic with a 63% increase, resulting in an average of 15.48 showings per listing.
Regionally, the Midwest had the highest year-over-year increase in showings per listing at 5.9%, while the West had the largest decrease at 18.5%. This is the third consecutive month the West had seen a year-over-year decline in home showing traffic. Meanwhile, the South remained flat from a year ago and the Northeast saw a 0.9% decrease.
