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 early in the year, then dropped sharply as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sales recovered somewhat in June, and July’s figure of 36,447 was the highest since August 2017. It remains to be seen whether this represents a return to a normal housing market or a one-time gain from pent-up demand that was depressed by the spring lockdown. 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 had held steady for several weeks through July 26, the last date of the sample.
