Business reopenings rise across the country,
spiking in Q1; consumer interest grows in real estate and home
projects as housing market soars
Yelp Inc. (NYSE: YELP), the company that connects people with
great local businesses, today released first quarter 2021 data for
the Yelp Economic Average (YEA) report, a benchmark of local
economic strength in the U.S. The Q1 2021 YEA shows strong signals
of local economic recovery with more new businesses opening than at
any other period over the last 12 months and business reopenings at
the highest level since Q2 2020.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210421005384/en/
Nearly every state in the U.S. saw an
increase in new openings in Q1 2021, according to data from the
Yelp Economic Average. (Graphic: Business Wire)
YEA found that more than half a million new businesses opened in
the U.S. in the last year (April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2021), down by
only 11% year-over-year (YoY). New business openings spiked in Q1
2021, with restaurant and food business openings, as well as home,
professional, local and auto services openings above Q1 2020
levels. Business reopenings are also rising across the country with
reopenings in each month of the first quarter the highest they have
been since Q2 2020. Yelp data also finds evidence of the pandemic
home buying frenzy through new business openings and consumer
interest changes in real estate and home services categories.
“After a challenging year, 2021 is off to an encouraging start
for the local economy, with Yelp data signaling a recovery as new
business openings and business reopenings soar in the first
quarter,” said Justin Norman, Yelp’s vice president of data
science. “Yelp data shows a sharp increase of business reopenings
in Q1 – with reopenings hitting its highest levels since August
2020. New business openings also spiked between January and March
2021, with new openings for many categories above prior year
levels. Along with a downward trend of nationwide COVID-19 cases
and an increase in vaccinations, these are all promising signs of
rebounding local economies.”
More Than Half a Million New Businesses Open in the Last
Year
In the last 12 months, Yelp data reveals there were 516,754 new
business openings in the U.S. (April 1, 2020 through March 31,
2021), down by only 11% YoY. Of the newly opened businesses, 69,001
were restaurant and food businesses, down by 14% YoY.
In professional, local, home and auto categories, 272,749 new
businesses opened in the last 12 months, up by 2% YoY. Home
services openings were 165,006 for the year (up 5% YoY), local
services openings were 54,369 (up 3%), professional services
openings were 51,839 (up 2%), and auto openings were 34,282 (down
4%).
New Business Openings Spike in Q1 2020, Comparable to Prior
Years
Though local businesses are still experiencing continued
challenges and capacity restrictions, Yelp data shows that more new
businesses opened in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2021 than
at any other period over the last 12 months. With 146,486 total
business openings in Q1 2021, the level of new openings is
comparable to years prior, down by only 2% year-over-year (YoY) and
up by 4% from Q1 2019.
During the first quarter, restaurant and food business openings
(18,217) were up by 5% from Q1 2020 and down by only 4% from Q1
2019. Professional, local, home and auto sectors also saw a
significant number of new business openings (79,332), up by 5% from
Q1 2020 and up by 23% from Q1 2019. Of those, home services had the
highest number of new openings in Q1 (48,592 up 4%), followed by
local services (16,602 up 16%), professional services (14,134 up
2%) and auto services (9,790 up 10%).
Nearly every state in the U.S. saw an increase in new openings
in Q1 2021, compared to Q4 2020. States with the largest increase
in new openings in Q1 2021 compared to Q4 2020 were Mississippi
(979 openings, up 39% quarter-over-quarter), Alabama (1,921
openings, up 35%) and Maine (450 openings, up 32%). The largest
counts of openings in the quarter tend to be in larger and more
heavily populated states, including California (22,157 openings),
Texas (14,860 openings), and Florida (14,793 openings).
Business Reopenings Rise Across the U.S., Reach Highest Level
Since Q2 2020
As COVID-19 cases continue a downward trend in most states
across the U.S., business reopenings have accelerated. The total
reopenings since March 1, 2020 climbed to 258,191 up from 230,209
as of Dec. 31. Reopenings in each month of the first quarter were
the highest they have been since August 2020. As heavy restrictions
lifted, national reopenings picked up early in the quarter. January
saw the highest number of reopenings in the quarter, and while
reopenings slowed in each subsequent month of Q1 2021, March
reopening levels still remained high.
Due to the wide-ranging nature of COVID-19 responses throughout
the nation, the following states experienced over 65% of their
reopenings in Q1 2021, since August: Arkansas (302 reopenings),
Delaware (140 reopenings), Mississippi (287 reopenings), Maryland
(951 reopenings), Tennessee (872 reopenings), and Texas (5,331
reopenings).
Yelp Data Shows Evidence of Pandemic Home Buying
Frenzy
Yelp data reveals insight into the recent home buying frenzy, as
many businesses related to moving preparations opened within the
home and local services sectors in Q1 2021, such as truck rentals
(378 openings, up 26% quarter-over-quarter), dumpster rentals (857
openings, up 21%) and junk removal (6,181 openings, up 19%).
Consumer interest changes on Yelp also indicate that people
across the U.S. have been focused on their homes – whether buying a
new property or improving their current space. Every state in the
U.S. saw more than a 90% increase in consumer interest for real
estate agents compared to Q1 2020. In preparation to move or
declutter, consumer interest for junk removal services was up by
more than 100% in every state. Consumers are also taking on larger,
more intensive home renovation projects, as consumer interest in
architects was up 100% compared to Q1 2020 in every state except
Nevada. Consumer interest increased by more than 100% for
electricians in every state except for Washington, D.C., and
interest in handymen increased by more than 100% in every state
except for Michigan, which saw a 68% increase.
Read the full report, as well as previous YEA reports, at
yelpeconomicaverage.com. Assets and images from the Q1 2021 YEA
report can be found here. For more information and Yelp’s latest
company metrics, visit:
https://www.yelp-press.com/company/fast-facts/default.aspx
Methodology
New Business Openings Openings are determined by counting new
businesses listed on Yelp, which are added by either business
owners or Yelp users. Openings are adjusted year-over-year, meaning
openings are relative to the same period of time in the previous
period for the same category and geographic location. This
adjustment corrects for both seasonality and the baseline level of
Yelp coverage in any given category and geography.
Business Reopenings On each date, starting with March 1, 2020,
we count U.S. businesses that were temporarily closed and reopened
through March 31, 2021. A reopening is of a temporary closure,
whether by using Yelp’s temporary closure feature or by editing
hours, excluding closures due to holidays. Each reopened business
is counted at most once, on the date of its most recent
reopening.
Openings and reopenings are based on when they're indicated on
Yelp, as such, the data may lag slightly from the true opening or
reopening date due to a delay in reporting from consumers and
business owners.
Consumer Interest By Business Category We measure consumer
interest, in terms of U.S. counts of a few of the many actions
people take to connect with businesses on Yelp: viewing business
pages or posting photos or reviews. Consumer interest for each
category is based on the Q1 2021 year-over-year change in the
category’s share of all consumer actions in its root category.
Baseline levels of interest for changes from Q4 2020 to Q1 2021
were measured between December 1 and December 31, 2020,
corresponding to the announcement of FDA approved vaccinations. We
now measure consumer interest levels normalized by their average
value over the baseline through March 31. As such we measure
consumer interest in these categories – relative to the December,
“start of official recovery”, baseline level of interest. This is a
good general indicator of consumers' path towards reverting to the
norm and becoming more active economically and socially.
To measure seasonally adjusted daily consumer interest we start
with the biggest U.S. categories by consumer actions. Among those,
we select the biggest gainers and biggest decliners in terms of
their share of all root category consumer actions since December 1.
Then we choose representative ones to show the trend, which we’re
charting from December 1, 2020 through March 31, 2021.
About Yelp Inc.
Yelp Inc. (www.yelp.com) connects people with great local
businesses. With unmatched local business information, photos and
review content, Yelp provides a one-stop local platform for
consumers to discover, connect and transact with local businesses
of all sizes by making it easy to request a quote, join a waitlist,
and make a reservation, appointment or purchase. Yelp was founded
in San Francisco in July 2004. Since then, Yelp has taken root in
major metros in more than 30 countries.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210421005384/en/
Yelp Inc. Julianne Rowe press@yelp.com
Yelp (NYSE:YELP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Yelp (NYSE:YELP)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024