The Memorial Day weekend took its typical toll on home-hunting across the Washington region. But home showings across the region also were on the low end of what has been typical for late May in recent years.
The 20,743 total home showings for the week ending May 26 represented a drop-off of 18.4 percent from the preceding week – hardly a shocker, as the last two days of the period were part of the Memorial Day weekend when only the most ardent home-buyers were on the hunt.
But the figure ran below the totals for the weeks leading up to Memorial Day in 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to the Bright MLS data.
That could be just a momentary blip, or it could mean seasonal market cooling has started just a little early this year.
Showings typically peak in late March or early April, leading to home contracts and, eventually, consummated transactions in May and June before sales begin to trend lower.
The one exception to the seasonal variation came in 2020. After being knocked higgledy-piggledy in the first weeks of COVID that March and April, the market came roaring back. Even the Memorial Day week that year saw no dropoff in showings, as the rate kept moving up in a straight line through the summer, making up for lost time.
