But competition for homes will heat up soon, Redfin says
The share of offers that faced a bidding war plunged to a new 10-year low in December, according to a new report from Redfin.
Year over year, bidding-war rates nationwide went down from 12% to just 9% -- likely hitting their “true bottom” in December, Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said.
"Amid the current global economic uncertainty, mortgage rates will remain low in the coming months, which will boost demand for homes in 2020,” said Fairweather. “That means more buyers competing against each other and bidding up prices."
San Francisco was the only moderately competitive metro in December, with a bidding-war rate of 26%, down from 28% in November and 35% in December 2018.
Competition remained infrequent everywhere else in the country, with no other market posting a bidding-war rate higher than 17%. In Raleigh and Dallas, the bidding-war rate fell to zero. Atlanta followed with the third-lowest bidding-war rate of 4%, while Los Angeles reached its lowest point in at least five years at 11.4%.
"There aren't typically very many homes for sale in San Francisco in December," said Redfin San Francisco Market Manager Saleem Buqeileh. "Last month, we saw more buyers than usual out looking for a 'steal' and bidding on homes, which led to multiple-offer situations on some homes where all of the buyers came in below list price, rather than above."
Source: Redfin
