April was the first month we really started feeling the effects of the shelter-in-place on residential real estate activity in Napa. Across the board, the numbers were down compared to 2019 for single-family homes: Properties for sale were down 7.7%; pendings were down 37.3%, and sales were down 43.2%.
However, sold prices edged up slightly year-on-year, $735,000 vs. $725,000, a 1.4% increase. Right now, with properties again available to be staged, inspected, and shown (albeit without open houses), we anticipate some pent-up buyer demand driving activity back towards more seasonally normal numbers.
Most properties that had been pulled off the market temporarily should be coming back on, raising the inventory levels to meet the anticipated buyer demand. Mortgage rates remain very low, which will also support recovering sales levels.
