Redfin Ranks the Fastest-Moving Real Estate Markets in the Country; California's Silicon Valley Tops the List

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SEATTLE, May 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered brokerage, today released its latest real estate industry analysis, the Redfin Fastest Real Estate Markets Report for April. The report tracks the speed of the overall housing market and highlights the fastest- and slowest-moving markets across the country. Redfin analyzed several statistics: months of supply (used to determine whether it is a buyer's or seller's market), the percentage of homes under contract within two weeks and one week of their debut, as well as the number of Flash Sales, which are homes under contract within 24 hours.

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In April, the number of homes that went under contract within two weeks increased by 39 percent since the same time last year and by 3 percent from March. Homes going under contract in one week increased 54 percent from last year and by 2 percent since March. The percentages of homes under contract in two weeks and in one week both set new records since at least January 2011, when Redfin began tracking this data.

"I've been seeing more homebuyers writing pre-emptive offers in an effort to get under contract before a bidding war erupts," said Mia Simon, a Redfin agent in Silicon Valley. "Typically, these pre-emptive offers are well above asking price, non-contingent, and from homebuyers who have already lost out in several bidding wars."

Other key findings:

• The fastest-moving market in April was San Jose (Silicon Valley), California, where nearly two-thirds of new listings were under contract within two weeks, and there was less than one month of supply.
• The slowest-moving markets were Triangle, NC (Raleigh-Durham) and Philadelphia, each of which saw 10% of homes under contract within two weeks.
• Denver is the only market among the five fastest that is not in California.
• Atlanta and Philadelphia are the only metro areas considered buyer's markets, with 6.9 and 8 months of supply respectively.
• Miami has shown the most dramatic acceleration over the last year, with a 149% increase in the percentage of homes going under contract in two weeks, followed by Atlanta at 123%.
• Miami also led the nation with the largest (45%) month-over-month increase in the rate of homes going under contract in 14 days, followed by Denver at 15%.
• The Chicago and Phoenix markets slowed down in the last year, with 22% and 16% drops in their respective rates of homes going under contract within two weeks.
• In the last month, four markets decelerated, seeing a month-over-month decline in the percentage of homes that went under contract in 14 days. They were Chicago (-23%), Las Vegas (-3%), Phoenix (-2%), and Dallas (-1%).

Below is a ranking of 22 real estate markets by speed, measured by the percentage of homes that went under contract within two weeks of their debut in April 2013.

Several factors contribute to acceleration of today's real estate market. Despite early signs that the inventory shortage is beginning to ease, there are still 26 percent fewer homes for sale than in April of last year. Meanwhile, low interest rates continue to motivate homebuyers, causing demand to surge. In addition to those market forces, new technology is compressing the timeline from listing to tour and offer to signed contract. Redfin Instant Alerts notify homebuyers within minutes that a listing has hit the market. Mobile Tour Requests make it easy for people to see a home with an agent and write an offer within hours. While market conditions like supply and demand will fluctuate over time, technological innovations make it faster and easier to access new information about homes for sale, creating a "new normal" for the pace of home-buying and selling.

To read the full report on Redfin's blog, click the following link. http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2013/05/fastest-real-estate-market-report.html.

About Redfin

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions. Redfin's online tools feature all the broker-listed homes for sale, as well as for-sale-by-owner properties that don't pay brokers a commission. The company serves 22 U.S. markets and has closed more than $8 billion in home sales. In 2012, Redfin was named one of The DIGITAL 100: World's Most Valuable Private Tech Companies by Business Insider. Follow us on blog.redfin.com, on Twitter@Redfin, and Facebook.com/Redfin.

SOURCE Redfin Corporation