Redfin Report: Bidding Wars Edge Up Slightly in September, Bucking the Typical Seasonal Trend
11% of Redfin offers faced competition in September, up from 8-year low of 10% in August, but still much cooler than last year
SEATTLE, Oct. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- (NASDAQ: RDFN) — Nationally, just 11 percent of offers written by Redfin agents on behalf of their homebuying customers faced a bidding war in September, according to a new report from Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage. The bidding war rate was down from 41 percent a year earlier, but up slightly from the eight-year low of 10 percent in August. Over the previous four years, the bidding war rate has averaged a 0.8 point drop from August to September, so even a small uptick is unusual.
According to seasonal patterns of homebuying competition from 2013 to 2018, the national bidding war rate falls an average of 15 percentage points from March—the month it typically peaks—to September. This year, however, the seasonal decline has been far less pronounced, falling by just 4 points during the same period. Of course, the market this year never got very competitive in the spring the way it typically does, so there wasn't much of a spring peak from which to decline.
"After the coolest spring home-selling season in at least eight years, homebuying competition didn't have far to fall, but low mortgage rates ultimately drove a modest uptick in bidding wars in late summer when they typically become less common," said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. "With mortgage rates likely to remain near historic lows, I expect the bidding war rate to continue to level off—rather than follow its typical end-of-year descent—as 2019 comes to a close."
In San Francisco, the most competitive metro in the nation, 28 percent of Redfin offers faced a bidding war last month. This was down from 69 percent a year earlier. In nearby San Jose, 18 percent of offers faced competition in September, down from 83 percent a year earlier.
"More sellers are pricing their homes a little below the price they expect to sell at, which is encouraging bidding wars to drive up price," said Redfin San Jose agent Kimberly Douglas. "In addition to teaser pricing like this, I've seen very aggressive price drops happening more often lately."
Las Vegas and Phoenix were tied as the second-most competitive metros with 21 percent of offers facing competition in both metros. No other metro area saw more than one in five offers face competition in September.
The least competitive market in September was Miami, where just two percent of the offers submitted by Redfin agents faced competition. Dallas (3.1%) and Austin (3.6%) were the second and third-least competitive.
Metro Area |
Share of Redfin |
Share of Redfin |
Share of Redfin |
Atlanta, GA |
6.7% |
29.2% |
2.3% |
Austin, TX |
3.6% |
29.7% |
8.3% |
Boston, MA |
15.2% |
56.1% |
14.3% |
Chicago, ILI |
7.2% |
32.2% |
5.5% |
Dallas, TX |
3.1% |
33.7% |
4.8% |
Denver, CO |
10.3% |
31.4% |
12.4% |
Houston, TX |
6.3% |
50.8% |
10.6% |
Las Vegas, NV |
21.2% |
33.3% |
17.1% |
Los Angeles, CA |
12.0% |
50.9% |
14.8% |
Miami, FL |
1.8% |
35.4% |
3.0% |
New York, NY |
10.5% |
43.3% |
7.2% |
Philadelphia, PA |
6.9% |
52.5% |
4.0% |
Phoenix, AZ |
21.2% |
37.8% |
12.5% |
Portland, OR |
9.9% |
37.1% |
8.7% |
Raleigh, NC |
5.0% |
40.5% |
3.6% |
Sacramento, CA |
8.0% |
38.1% |
5.3% |
San Diego, CA |
16.0% |
40.6% |
19.7% |
San Francisco |
27.9% |
68.9% |
31.0% |
San Jose, CA |
17.9% |
83.3% |
12.9% |
Seattle, WA |
11.9% |
30.9% |
9.2% |
Washington, D.C. |
9.9% |
43.9% |
9.0% |
National |
11.1% |
41.3% |
10.4% |
To read the full report, including the methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/september-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 85 major metro areas across the U.S. and Canada. The company has closed more than $85 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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