Home sales can be a good indicator of the health of the state’s economy and housing markets. California home sales were running at a relatively high level earlier in the year, but have dropped sharply as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales recovered in June, but remained well below the average June count of the previous five years. The graph below shows unadjusted home sale counts according to Redfin, a national real estate brokerage. Sales are booked when they close, so monthly counts primarily reflect contracts that were signed in the previous month.
This next graph shows weekly counts for 2019 and 2020 using Redfin data for California’s twelve largest markets. The graph suggests that home sales picked up as June went on and remained relatively strong through the first week of July.
