This week, Sue Pindle, the President of the Realtors Association of York & Adams Counties, said that real estate should be considered an essential industry. The once on-demand sector is presently at a standstill due to the shutdown and restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pindle disagrees with Governor Tom Wolf’s orders of shutting down nonessential businesses and strictly implementing social distancing protocols because these are prominent causes of the sudden downturn of York County’s housing market.
“Gov. Wolf needs to immediately reopen real estate on a statewide basis,” Pindle stated in a news release.
According to RAYAC’s latest statistics, Between January and April this year, 427 homes were sold in York Country, which is a 7% decrease from the same period of 2019. Pindle said that the market would only continue to decrease if Gov. Wolf does not make changes to the business and personal travel restrictions.
“As it stands today, Pennsylvania is the only state in the country which has deemed real estate as a nonessential business on a statewide basis,” Pindle said.
Housing and real estate sales were strong in the start of 2020, continuing the 2019 trend when an average house was on the marketing for just 23 days. This is based on RAYAC’s statistics.
Although physical tours to these houses were not allowed due to Wolf’s restrictions, housing and real estate agents are still able to do work and business in the comforts of their own homes by providing virtual tours to showcase the properties to their clients.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Pennsylvania has implemented several restrictions for the general safety of the public.
Gov. Tom Wolf previously announced that he would be lifting some restrictions to specific outdoor activities. Golf courses, private owned campgrounds, marinas, and guided fishing trips are some of these related activities. Campgrounds in state parks are not allowed to open and will remain closed through May 14. However, nail salons, hair salons, gyms, and theaters are still not allowed to reopen.
As more Coronavirus cases have been confirmed in York County, state police have previously implemented a face mask order where customers going inside grocery stores and other businesses are required to wear masks upon entry.
