May will be the final month for the inflated home sale comps this year. They’re inflated because it compares today’s strong market to one where the growth rate bottomed out while the pandemic was trashing the economy.  

May 2020 local sales were down 20.5%. The sharp recovery began the following month when June sales were up 12.5%.  After two more months of moderate increases, they jumped to the double-digit gains that finished 2020 as the best existing home sales year on record, so far. 

Comparing sales during March, April, and May this year to those months in 2019 is a better representation of the region’s market core performance. For example, April 2020 sales compared to April 2019 is an 11.3% increase.  

This year’s existing home sales have averaged 698 a month compared to 622 in 2019. That’s a monthly average increase of 12.2%.