Tag Archives: Redfin

Competition for homes eased in May due to a monthly increase in inventory, according to Redfin's latest bidding war report. Although 69.5 percent of offers that came from Redfin agents faced competition last month, the share is down from 73.3 percent in April. Competition was the most heated in California markets. In San Francisco, 87.9 percent of offers faced multiple bids in May, the most out of the 21 major markets tracked.

The housing market came out of April in a particularly strong position, according to Redfin's latest Real-Time Price Tracker, with prices, sales, and inventory posting gains across the country. Redfin's monthly report--based on home prices, sales, and inventory across 19 U.S. markets--shows prices rose 4.9 percent in April on a monthly basis and 16.1 percent on a yearly basis. Meanwhile, the number of homes for sale increased 6.4 percent from March to April.

A report from Redfin shows 73 percent of offers in April faced competition, down from a peak of 79 percent in February but slightly up from 70 percent last April. Two markets that cooled from March to April were San Francisco and Washington DC, where bidding-war rates fell 0.8 and 5.8 percentage points, Redin reported. The report also found the most common components of a winning offer were: conventional loan (61.7 percent) and a higher-than-asking offer price (51.9 percent).

After showing some reluctance at the beginning of the first quarter, homeowners polled for Redfin's second-quarter Real-Time Seller Survey seem far more interested in entering the market. According to responses collected by Redfin, 45 percent of sellers believe now is a good time to sell, up from just 22 percent in the first quarter and 15 percent in last year's fourth quarter.

Home sales rose 25 percent month-over-month in March, reflecting the normal spring spike that occurs every year, according to Redfin. On a year-over-year basis, however, sales were up just 0.9 percent--the smallest gain in 14 months. Ten of the 19 markets tracked by Redfin saw sales increase year-over-year, one fewer than February. All 19 markets posted month-over-month improvements. Home prices also saw a nice boost, growing 6.2 percent from February and 15 percent from March 2012. However, the number of homes for sale fell 31 percent from March 2012 to March 2013.

While rapid price gains have recently prompted fears of another housing bubble on the horizon, recent reports from Capital Economics and Redfin asserted no such bubble is forming--at least not on a national level. Capital Economics addressed concerns that home price increases, which are rising twice as fast as gains in income and residential rent, are not sustainable in the long run. One argument the firm made is housing actually has more to gain than lose from rapid price gains since it would help more homeowners rise out of negative equity and help those with low equity.

According to findings from Redfin, the number of agents saying now is a good time to buy plummeted from 75 percent in Q3 2012 to just 57 percent in Q1 2013. At the same time, the number of agents saying now is a bad time to buy rose slightly, though the percentage is still low--5 percent in Q1 2013 compared to 2 percent in Q3 2012. On the other hand, 82 percent of agents believe now is a good time to sell, a spike from 54 percent in the third-quarter survey.

More than one-third of homes were taken off the market in two weeks or less last month, Redfin revealed in its most recent monthly housing report. On average, 34 percent of homes were under contract within 14 days of their debut in February, an increase from 30.3 percent in January, the online real estate broker reported. Redfin also reported a continued year-over-year decrease in inventory, which has fallen 32 percent from February 2012.

Redfin's latest survey shows a shortage of inventory and rising prices--both of which naturally benefit sellers--are creating frustration for buyers trying to get in on the ground floor of the housing recovery. According to Redfin's findings, 79 percent of buyers who responded to the survey now believe home prices will increase in their neighborhood over the next year, up from 71 percent in Q4 2012. The share of buyers who believe prices will rise ""a lot"" more than doubled, increasing to 22 percent from 10 percent previously.

In a blog post Friday, Redfin revealed new conventional listings have actually gone up 2 percent compared to last year, while listings for distressed properties have been reduced in half. Redfin conducted an analysis of new property listings in the first five weeks of 2013 (January 1 to February 11) compared to the same period in 2012. The Seattle-based brokerage found short sale listings decreased 54 percent from 2012, while REO listings are down by 46 percent. Overall, new listings declined 18 percent from 2012.