We know that apartment searches have rebounded, but now home searches have, too.
According to a study from LendingTree, Google searches for the term “homes for sale” have increased from their 2020 lows in each metro that was analyzed.
The average lowest search-interest value in 2020 for all 50 metros was about 56. By the end of April, that number grew by 54%, to 86.
“There are probably people who think there are going to be bargains in the marketplace,” LendingTree Chief Economist Tendayi Kapfidze said. “They might be anticipating that there will be fewer buyers competing because many people have had a disruption to their incomes or are uncertain about the outlook for their jobs. The low-interest rates also make it an attractive time.”
The metros that saw the largest increases in searches were Tucson, Arizona; Rochester, New York; and Jacksonville, Florida. These areas, on average, had search-interest values spike 126.57% from their 2020 lows, bringing their search-interest values up to 90, 81 and 100, respectively.
The smallest growth in searches was seen in Indianapolis, Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee. The popularity of the search term rose by 17.6% on average in those areas, with current search-interest values of 63, 65 and 78, respectively.
Month over month, Tucson, Arizona, New Orleans and Miami had the largest growth. Search-interest values in these metros grew an average of 84.46% from the end of March to the end of April, LendingTree said.
The smallest month-over-month gain was seen in Indianapolis, San Diego and Buffalo, New York. Coincidentally, Indianapolis is the only metro in this report to see a decline in search-interest values, as month over month search-interest value was down by 1.56%, from 64 to 63.