The Philadelphia-area housing market is seeing a recent rebound thanks to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and historically low mortgage rates, writes Ryan Sharrow for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

It struggled in May, with 4,365 closed home sales, a 38.6 percent decline over the same month last year. Closing volume in May was a nine-year low.

As COVID-19 guidelines started to lift in May buyers were attracted to low 30-year fixed mortgage rates.

While new pending home sales were off 20 percent from May of last year, sales were up significantly compared to April.

Pending sales of detached units rose 92.6 percent over April to 4,509. Attached homes increased 113.6% to 2,809.

In Delaware County, new listings rose month-over-month by 111.5 percent.

In a WSFS study, 39 percent of respondents plan to buy a home this summer. Of those, 75 percent were planning to look in the next six months due to low interest rates and less restrictive COVID-19 guidelines.

Up to 76 percent say they will continue using virtual means to search for a home and prefer to complete the mortgage process on line with a professional’s help.

Read more about the housing situation here.