San Francisco, San Diego and Las Vegas were the most competitive housing markets in August, but local buyers were far less likely to face a bidding war than last summer
10.4 percent of offers written by Redfin agents on behalf of their homebuying customers faced a bidding war in August, down from more than 42 percent a year earlier, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. August’s bidding-war rate overtakes July’s 11.4 percent rate as the lowest on record since at least 2011.
The national bidding war rate reached a high of 59 percent in March 2018 before starting to drop as homebuyers reached their limit with sky-high housing prices and rising mortgage rates.
“Despite remaining near three-year lows, mortgage rates have failed to bring enough buyers to the market to rev up competition for homes this summer,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “Recession fears have been enough to spook some would-be buyers from making the big financial commitment of a home purchase. But assuming a recession doesn’t arrive this fall or winter, consumers will likely adjust to the new ‘normal’ of continued volatility in the stock and global markets, and the people who need and want to make a move will take advantage of low mortgage rates. As a result, I still expect homebuying competition to pick back up in the new year.”
The San Francisco metro was the most competitive market in August, with 31 percent of offers written by Redfin agents on behalf of their homebuying customers facing a bidding war. But even though that’s more competitive than every other major market in the U.S., the local bidding war rate is down from 73.5 percent a year earlier and down slightly from 31.8 percent in July.
San Francisco is followed by fellow California metro San Diego, which saw an 18.4 percent bidding war rate. Then come Las Vegas (17.1%), Boston (15%) and Los Angeles (14.4%).
The rate in San Jose was 10.3 percent, down from 77 percent a year earlier, and in Seattle, another expensive West Coast metro, it was 9.4 percent, a big year-over-year dip from 37.8 percent in August 2018.
“Competition in the Seattle area has certainly slowed down since the second half of 2018. Last year, five out of five offers I submitted faced competition; now, it’s one in five,” said local Redfin agent Michelle Santos. “Now, for desirable homes, competition is still fierce, and the winning offer is one that’s above the list price and waives contingencies. At the same time, average homes sit on the market for quite some time before they get any offers.”
Atlanta led the pack of least competitive markets, with just 2.4 percent of the offers submitted by Redfin agents in August facing competition. It’s followed by Miami (3.1%), Raleigh (4.2%), Philadelphia (4.3%) and Chicago (5%).
Metro area | Share of Redfin offers that faced competition in August 2019 | Share of Redfin offers that faced competition in August 2018 | Share of Redfin offers that faced competition in July 2019 |
San Francisco, CA | 31% | 73.5% | 31.8% |
San Diego, CA | 18.4% | 48.6% | 21.4% |
Las Vegas, NV | 17.1% | 46.2% | 7% |
Boston, MA | 15% | 60.1% | 18.7% |
Los Angeles, CA | 14.4% | 62.8% | 17% |
Denver, CO | 12.9% | 31.9% | 15.5% |
Phoenix, AZ | 11.9% | 29.2% | 13.4% |
San Jose, CA | 10.3% | 76.9% | 12.5% |
Houston, TX | 9.6% | 40.3% | 4.3% |
Seattle, WA | 9.4% | 37.8% | 8.1% |
Portland, OR | 9.1% | 43.9% | 9.1% |
Washington, D.C. | 8.7% | 41% | 9.3% |
New York, NY | 7.7% | 52.7% | 7.7% |
Austin, TX | 7.6% | 36.5% | 10.1% |
Sacramento, CA | 5.5% | 44.3% | 9.9% |
Dallas, TX | 5% | 37.4% | 6.2% |
Chicago, IL | 5% | 31.9% | 7.8% |
Philadelphia, PA | 4.3% | 31.1% | 12.9% |
Raleigh, NC | 4.2% | 30.2% | 7.8% |
Miami, FL | 3.1% | 29% | 1.3% |
Atlanta, GA | 2.4% | 33.9% | 7.4% |
To read the full report, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/august-2019-real-estate-bidding-wars.
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate brokerage, combining its own full-service agents with modern technology to redefine real estate in the consumer’s favor. Founded by software engineers, Redfin has the country’s #1 brokerage website and offers a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate, the automated home-value estimate with the industry’s lowest published error rate for listed homes. Homebuyers and sellers enjoy a full-service, technology-powered experience from Redfin real estate agents, while saving thousands in commissions. Redfin serves more than 90 major metro areas across the U.S. and Canada. The company has helped customers buy or sell homes worth more than $85 billion.
For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the Redfin Data Center. To be added to Redfin’s press release distribution list, subscribe here. To view Redfin’s press center, click here.
SOURCE Redfin
