16% of Redfin Homebuyers Faced a Bidding War This Month, Down from 61% Last Year
San Francisco, Boston, San Diego and Portland are the most competitive housing markets, but still only 1 in 5 offers written by local Redfin agents faced bidding wars so far in March
SEATTLE, March 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: RDFN) -- Just 16 percent of offers written by Redfin agents on behalf of their homebuying customers in the first three weeks of March faced a bidding war, according to a new report from Redfin, (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. That's down from 61 percent for the first three weeks of March 2018 and a slow uptick from the record low of 12 percent in December.
If the rate of bidding wars begins to increase in a meaningful way this spring, it will be one of the earliest signs that the market is heating back up, since buyers making offers is the earliest stage of the homebuying process.
Another good measure of the competitiveness of the market is how long homes stay for sale before going under contract (days on market). The faster homes find buyers, the more intense the market is for buyers. The typical home that sold in February spent a median of 59 days on market, up 2 days from a year ago. This is the largest year-over-year increase in time on market since January 2015, and it's the first February to post an annual increase in days on market climb since at least 2011.
San Francisco, Boston, San Diego and Portland, Oregon are the most competitive housing markets in March, all with about one in five offers facing competition. Each of these markets saw over 65 percent of offers face competition during the same period a year earlier.
"This year even when there is competition among buyers for the same house, prices aren't bid up as high as they were last summer," said San Diego Redfin agent Katie Gilbert. "Overall it's not as chaotic as last year, but buyers still need to move quickly to win homes in the popular areas."
Even Seattle— a bidding-war hotbed in 2018—still hasn't seen competition heat up just yet in 2019. Seattle's rate was 17 percent so far this month, down from 72 percent a year ago.
The least competitive housing markets so far in March are Miami (5%), Dallas (8%) and Houston (9%). A year ago, all three of these markets were seeing 26 percent or more of Redfin offers face competition.
The rate of bidding wars is still down considerably in every market that Redfin agents serve. The largest percentage-point declines in the first three weeks of March compared to a year earlier were posted in the San Francisco Bay Area (-64 points), Boston (-60 points) and Seattle (-56 points). The smallest declines were in Atlanta ( -14 points), Houston (-18 points) and Phoenix (-27 points).
The table below indicates the bidding war rates for each of the largest metro areas Redfin agents serve.
Rank |
Metro Area |
Share of |
Share of |
Share of |
1 |
San Francisco, CA |
22% |
86% |
21% |
2 |
Boston, MA |
22% |
82% |
21% |
3 |
San Diego, CA |
20% |
69% |
21% |
4 |
Portland, OR |
20% |
66% |
20% |
5 |
Denver, CO |
19% |
70% |
19% |
6 |
Philadelphia, PA |
17% |
47% |
17% |
7 |
Los Angeles, CA |
17% |
70% |
15% |
8 |
Seattle, WA |
17% |
72% |
15% |
9 |
Austin, TX |
16% |
53% |
14% |
10 |
Washington, D.C. |
14% |
57% |
14% |
11 |
Atlanta, GA |
14% |
28% |
13% |
12 |
Phoenix, AZ |
14% |
41% |
12% |
13 |
Raleigh, NC |
11% |
61% |
12% |
14 |
Chicago, IL |
11% |
40% |
11% |
15 |
Sacramento, CA |
10% |
59% |
9% |
16 |
Houston, TX |
9% |
26% |
4% |
17 |
Dallas, TX |
8% |
55% |
4% |
18 |
Miami, FL |
5% |
43% |
2% |
To view the full report, complete with additional charts and insights, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/2019-march-bidding-wars/.
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is the 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 85 major metro areas across the U.S. The company has closed more than $60 billion in home sales.
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
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