Panama City, FL – According to the Central Panhandle Association of Realtors, pending home sales have gone down in the last 30 days due to Covid-19. Houses are still going under contract, though the rate is slowing. Compared to last year, pending home sales were only down 9% at the beginning of March 2020 and are down 41% as March ends. Realtors are employing new, safe and different ways to show houses to buyers. An application CPAR Realtors use to schedule showings has now defaulted so that showings and open house appointments do not overlap at all. Realtors have also adopted more virtual tours of homes so that buyers can experience a property from their personal computer or device.

The number of active residential listings has remained high, maintaining levels 17% higher than 2019 during March. The number of closings has remained consistent so far as well, only dropping slightly from 2019’s numbers. The technology to complete a closing electronically with tools like eSign & virtual remote online notary are no doubt aiding this transition to remote closings.

Realtors are essential in our marketplace as we continue to have military transferring to our area and local citizens displaced by Hurricane Michael getting insurance checks that still need to get into homes.