Homeowners trying to sell during the pandemic will likely need some patience and a degree of expectation that the process could take longer. Homes are taking about an average of 15 days more to sell—or about 27% longer—than a year ago, according to realtor.com®’s data reflecting the week ending May 16. This marks the largest increase in the number of days that homes have spent on the market since 2013.

Days on the market have been gradually increasing since the pandemic began. During the first two weeks of March, prior to the outbreak’s growth in the U.S., homes were selling four days faster than a year ago.

“Mid-May is normally the time of year when homes sell the fastest,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “Today’s median time on the market is more like what we usually see in late February or November.”

But stay-at-home orders and unemployment have prompted a slowdown in the market. The National Association of REALTORS® reported on Thursday that existing-home sales dropped 17.8% in April compared to March. Many economists view the sales slump as temporary, particularly given the sudden uptick in mortgage applications for home purchases.

But, while days on the market have increased, consumers shouldn’t assume it’s a buyer’s market now, housing analysts say. Home prices are staying firm. NAR reports that existing-home prices for all housing types jumped 7.4% in April compared to a year ago.

“This may be surprising to a lot of people,” Hale says.

But a tight inventory of homes for sale persists. The number of new listings dropped 39% year over year for the week ending May 2.

Hale predicts that days on the market will drop again in the late summer as more cities loosen restrictions and more potential buyers return to work.

The number of homes for sale has shrunk since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Some sellers pulled their listings, making it tougher for buyers to find a home and compounding the issue in many markets that were already inventory-starved before the pandemic.

Indeed, protections against COVID-19 have exacerbated the housing shortage, realtor.com® reports. In April, the number of new listings fell 45% year over year.

“Inventory has been low and has continued to be low nationwide because builders have not kept up with the number of buyers in the market,” says Danielle Hale, realtor.com®’s chief economist. “The areas that have seen the worst inventory shortages are a lot of Rust Belt cities and West Coast areas where builders have really struggled to put up new housing.”

The markets with the lowest inventories in the nation are Buffalo, N.Y.; Columbus, Ohio; Rochester, N.Y.; Springfield, Mass.; and Harrisburg, Pa., realtor.com® reports.

Realtor.com®’s research team recently identified which metros offer the most affordably priced homes as well as decent inventory. They included metro areas that are more affordable for residents earning local salaries, and markets that have at least 10 active home listings per 1,000 households. The following markets topped their list as the most affordable with the most listings:

Des Moines, Iowa

• Median home price: $270,000 in April, 19% less than the national median of $320,000

Baton Rouge, La.

• Median home price: $249,000

Atlanta

• Median home price: $325,000

Virginia Beach, Va.

• Median home price: $316,000

Jacksonville, Fla.

• Median home price: $311,500

Lakeland, Fla.

• Median home price: $235,000

As the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted homeowners to stay at home, homeowners have reported spending more time baking and cooking, which has spurred remodeling dreams centered on the kitchen, the survey finds. Also, homeowners have turned their homes into multi-use spaces for working at home and exercising. Gym equipment sales statistics on Houzz are nearly eight times higher compared to the months prior to the pandemic. Also, home office furniture sales are 1.7 times greater than before the pandemic.

The Small Business Administration and U.S. Treasury Department have released an application for business owners to have their Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiven. Real estate professional who received a PPP loan should complete and submit the application, which was released Friday, to their PPP lender.

The program was created through the CARES Act to provide forgivable loans to eligible small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The PPP is a way to offer financial aid to small businesses and incentivize them to keep employees on their payrolls. The SBA outlines the form and instructions, including some of the following measures:

• Options for borrowers to calculate payroll costs using an “alternative payroll covered period” that aligns with borrowers’ regular payroll cycles.
• Flexibility to include eligible payroll and nonpayroll expenses paid or incurred during the eight-week period covered by the PPP loan.
• Instructions on how to perform the calculations required by the CARES Act to confirm eligibility for loan forgiveness.
• Borrower-friendly implementation of statutory exemptions from loan forgiveness reduction based on rehiring by June 30.
• Addition of a new exemption for borrowers who have made a good-faith, written offer to rehire workers that was declined.