Web traffic to new construction home listings portal BuzzBuzzHome has rebounded in recent weeks after dropping significantly in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daily site visits dropped by as much as 50 percent through the second half of March and early April, according to BuzzBuzzHome analytics. Since mid-April, traffic to the site has begun to steadily tick back up and is even 14 percent higher than average daily numbers recorded during the same time a year ago.
The trend aligns with what’s been observed in the broader residential real estate industry and new home market. Anxious would-be homebuyers hunkered down amidst widespread business closures, the roll out of strict social distancing measures and general economic volatility. This contributed to the initial market shock that saw home sales collapse in late March and throughout April compared to activity typically seen at the beginning of the busy spring buying season.
Now, as businesses across the US and Canada begin re-opening or planning to do so in the near future, some new homebuyers who moved to the sidelines in mid-March are resuming their online searches.
While economic uncertainty still hangs over the market and job losses continue to pile up, there are reasons to believe that buyer demand in the new home market will continue to be strong as the economy begins to restart. Pent-up demand held over from an early-year boom in sales and rock bottom mortgage rates will contribute to a potential rebound in sales, with market experts projecting mid- to late-summer as the timeframe for activity to ramp back up more concretely.
With new development sales centres and model homes closed, prospective buyers interested in new construction are now more reliant than ever on online search to find the information they need about what’s available in the market.
“The vast majority of new homebuyers begin their searches online, but now they need to spend even more time using digital portals like BuzzBuzzHome to view virtual tours, floorplans and other essential information to help them make informed purchasing decisions,” said BuzzBuzzHome President Matthew Slutsky.
“This, along with strong pre-existing demand, is likely a major driver in the traffic rebound we’ve seen over the last few weeks,” he added.
For its part, BuzzBuzzHome has responded rapidly to the new challenges brought about by social distancing and the desire to curb infection risk.
The site recently launched integrated Matterport 3D walkthroughs for developments enrolled in BuzzBuzzHome’s featured program. Slutsky has held two webinars targeted to sales and marketing teams who are seeking support in adjusting to the many challenges of closed sales centres and the need for a more digital-centric approach. You can view the April 15th webinar with McOuat Partnership’s Lianne McOuat here and the May 6th conversation with Do You Convert’s Kevin Oakley here.
More BuzzBuzzHome product updates and webinars are on the way as we all continue to adapt to the new circumstances.
BuzzBuzzHome owns the Livabl media brand and supplied the team with internal analytics for this piece.
