Paula Wolf, Contributing Writer//August 22, 2022
Paula Wolf, Contributing Writer//August 22, 2022
Fewer and fewer houses listed for sale are receiving multiple offers, real estate brokerage company Redfin reported, confirming what local agents are seeing as well.
Nationwide, 44.3% of home offers written by Redfin agents in July faced competition on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared with a revised rate of 50.9% in June and 63.8% in July 2021.
That’s the lowest share on record, with the exception of April 2020, when the market practically shut down because of COVID-19. It’s also the sixth straight monthly decline.
According to data submitted by Redfin’s agents, the typical home in a bidding war received 3.5 offers in July, down from 4.1 the previous month and 5.3 a year earlier.
Higher mortgage rates – now back over 5% for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan – and inflation are pricing some potential homebuyers out of the market, slowing activity.
As a result, while properties are often still selling quickly, 8% of listings each week experience a price cut, the highest share on record, Redfin said.
Of the metro areas analyzed by Redfin, however, Philadelphia had one of the busiest markets, with a 60.4% bidding-war rate in July, about the same as a year ago.
The cities with the lowest rates of homebuyer competition were Phoenix, 26.6%; Riverside, California, 31%; Seattle, 31.5%; Austin, Texas, 31.7; and Nashville, 33.3%.
In addition to Philadelphia, metros with the highest bidding-war rates were Raleigh, North Carolina, 63.8; Honolulu, 63%; Providence, Rhode Island, 60.5%; and Worcester, Massachusetts, 54.8%.
The city with the largest drop from July 2021 to July 2022 was Orlando, where listings with multiple offers fell from 81.4% to 37.4%.
Paula Wolf is a freelance writer
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