Economists' Outlook

Housing stats and analysis from NAR's research experts.

August is Second Month of Increasing Nationwide Foot Traffic

The new August Sentrilock® Foot Traffic report indicates the second month of increasing nationwide foot traffic, with home showings for three of the four regions seeing increases in year-over-year activity, according to data from SentriLock®, LLC, a lockbox company. August 2020 United States showings were up 20% over this time last year and represents the largest year-over-year increase in Sentrilock® showings since October 2017. August 2020 Sentrilock® showings were 1,176,157 while August 2019 showings were 978,328. Total U.S. cards for the month of August reached 207,422, which represent the most cards to date.

Line graph: Historical Percent Year-Over-Year Change in U.S. Sentrilock Showings, January 2009 to January 2020
Line graph: Historical U.S. Sentrilock Showings, January 2009 to January 2020

The diffusion index is an indication of the diffusion of growth across MLS boards. An index above 50 means more boards reported a year-over-increase in showings than the number of boards that reported a decrease. The index decreased by 8.2 points to 40.7, with 41% of roughly 200 MLSs boards reporting a year-over-year increase in showings with Sentrilock® lockboxes. 

The decrease in the diffusion index even as showings increased means that the growth in showings was less diffused across the boards compared to one year ago.

Line graph: Historical U.S. Sentrilock Diffusion Index, January 2009 to January 2020

The Northeast Region, the only region decreasing in year over year showings, had the lowest number of showings

The Northeast Region saw a decrease in year-over-year showings of 6%. Showings also decreased by 9.87% from 42,111 in July to 37,956 in August. This also represents the lowest number of showings among all regions. Sentrilock® Cards increased from 12,718 to 13,317 for the month of August. The Northeast Region came in last on a showings per card basis at 2.9 and is up 0.1 compared to the August 2019 level of 2.8.

Line graph: Northeast Region Historical Percent Year-Over-Year Change in Sentrilock Showings, January 2009 to January 2020

The Midwest Region had a solid performance

Midwest Region showings increased by 15% year-over-year in August. Showings decreased 2.68% from July to 375,214 for the month of August as its total showings rank second among all regions. The Midwest Region had the second most Sentrilock® Cards among all regions in August at 66,472 as showings per card totaled 5.6, which is slightly less than U.S. showings per card of 5.7. Showings per card are up 8.8% from year-ago-levels of 5.2.

Line graph: Midwest Region Historical Percent Year-Over-Year Change in Sentrilock Showings, January 2009 to January 2020

The South Region was another region with increases across the spectrum

The Southern Region had the third most showings with 236,098 and was up 16% which is 3% more than July’s figure on a year-over-year basis. Sentrilock® Cards increased slightly from the prior month to 49,823 where Sentrilock® Showings Per Card was 4.7 on the month and up 6.1% year-over-year.

Line graph: South Region Historical Percent Year-Over-Year Change in Sentrilock Showings, January 2009 to January 2020

West Region was the best performing region, with showings increasing 29% year-over-year and 34.5% month-over-month

West Region showings of 526,889 represent a 29% increase on a year-over-year basis, an increase of 34.5% from the prior month. The region outpaced national year-over-year showings of 20% and was the only region to not see a decrease in showings from the prior month. West Region Sentrilock® Cards were highest ever recorded with 77,810, leading the other regions. Sentrilock® Showings Per Card also outpaced the national level of 5.7 with 6.8 showings per card for the month and up 2.6% from August 2019 figures.

Line graph: West Region Historical Percent Year-Over-Year Change in Sentrilock Showings, January 2009 to January 2020

Download the full report.

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