April 2020 is the first full month that quarantine was in place. This should give us a good idea as to the Big Bear real estate market's initial response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Not too surprisingly, looking at a same month comparison, Big Bear home sales took a 58% drop with only 45 closings in April. The average sale price dropped less than 1% to $333,975 while the median price increased a modest 2%. The average and median price per square foot rose 2.5% and 3% respectively to $255 and $243. The median days on market stayed steady at 67 days.

Although a drop like this was to be expected, I think the first tell-tale sign of where things are going will be next month's numbers. I remain hopeful that once the initial shock wears off, buyers will come back into the market.

Two particular reasons for optimism are the low interest rates and new found focus on rural living over urban and suburban lifestyles. 

One other interesting development from last month was that not only did sales slow, but the number of new listings did as well. So from a supply and demand perspective, the market is still in a very good place.