Prices Fall in April, 2-3 Bids Per Property: HousingPulse Survey

If the buzz about bidding wars is true, ""Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse Tracking Survey"":www.insidemortgagefinance.com/housing_pulse/ reported those accounts did not boost prices in its findings.

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Homes are selling below the list price, and if a home is subject to a bidding war, the high offer becomes quashed by lower appraisals. According to the report, homes sold in April received only two or three offers, and average home prices declined slightly from March to April.

For non-distressed properties, the average price declined 1.5 percent from the previous month of March, while the average price for short sales slipped 1.7 percent. For damaged REOs, the average price dropped 1.4 percent and for move-in ready REOs, the average price fell 0.3 percent.

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The high share of distressed properties continued to drag prices down, according to HousingPulse statistics, which showed the average ratio for sales price to listing price stayed below 100 percent in April. For example, non-distressed properties sold for 95 percent of the list price in April - a metric that has not changed much over the past two years.

The share of distressed properties in the housing market in April was 47.9 percent using a three-month moving average. The figure marked the 26th consecutive month that the share has been above 40 percent.

The average number of offers for non-distressed properties sold in April was 1.9, according to the nationwide sample. Distressed properties received more offers, with damaged REOs averaging 3.5 offers, move-in ready REOs 3.1, and short sales 3 offers.

Even when potential homebuyers actually bid above the list price, appraisals prevented such transactions from closing.

""Yes, we are experiencing bidding wars on desirable properties, but many times the appraisals don't come in at the [contract] price. The appraisers are keeping the [transaction] prices down even when buyers see the value and are willing to pay more,"" said one real estate agent in the survey.

The HousingPulse Survey includes information from approximately 2,500 real estate agents each month.