Competition in the residential market peaked in April when nearly 75 percent of home offers had to contend with at least one other bid. (iStock)
Home shoppers can take a breath: Competition for listings is lower than it has been at any point this year.
Last month, 58.8 percent of home offers written by Redfin agents dealt with competing bids, according to a market report from the company. That is the lowest since December 2020, when 53.7 percent of offers were in bidding wars.
The figure represents a massive drop from April, when 74.3 percent of offers drew bidding wars, a high point for the past year. It was also slightly lower than last August, when 59.4 percent of offers faced rival bids. Last month, the number was 62.1 percent.
Seasonal changes could be factoring into the cooling market. Fewer people tend to put in offers for homes at the beginning of the fall when the school year is kicking off and families are getting settled.
Prices are also beginning to show signs of stabilizing, despite a persistent gap between the supply and demand of new homes. The market hasn’t cooled off completely, but there are signs of intensity receding among buyers.
In some metropolitan areas, however, competition remains as fierce as ever. Raleigh, North Carolina, had the highest Redfin bidding war rate last month, at 86.7 percent. The San Francisco/San Jose metro was second at 70.7 percent. Both markets saw increases in the rate from July, although the Bay Area’s rate was lower than at this time last year.
In Los Angeles, the bidding war rate was 62.8 percent, down from 67.5 percent in July. New York City’s was 56.4 percent, up from 50 percent the previous month. The rate was 53.1 percent in Miami, also up from 50 percent. And Chicago’s bidding war rate was 45.5 percent, down from 52.9 percent.
Of the markets analyzed, the one with the lowest bidding war rate was Oklahoma City, at just 35.7 percent.
