Only 11.2% of Redfin offers entered bidding wars in July, the lowest rate since 2011.
The national bidding war rate hasn’t surpassed 15 percent since November 2018, after falling steadily from a peak of 59 percent in March 2018.
“Mortgage rates have been mostly flat for the last month, and so has homebuyer competition, which was beginning a fast descent this time last year as mortgage rates were inching toward 5 percent,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “On a local level, it’s noteworthy that some of 2018’s fiercely competitive markets—San Jose, Seattle, Los Angeles—have seen their bidding war rates plummet the most year over year. Home prices in these expensive markets have also been falling annually. Overall, I expect homebuyer demand to strengthen in the second half of the year as the housing market continues to stabilize, but we may not see a big pop in bidding wars until early next year.”
San Francisco—one of the most expensive markets in the country—was the most competitive in July, with 35 percent of Redfin offers facing a bidding war. That’s down from 72.4 percent a year earlier and up from 28 percent in June, mirroring the seven-percentage-point increase seen from June to July of last year.
