Shocking News: Most Real Estate Offers Result in a Bidding War

In the most surprising news of the day we learned that the real estate housing inventory supply issue is resulting in a high level of offers that turn into bidding wars. Wow, who could have guessed that? <thats sarcasm, for the record>

Recently, Redfin released data that highlighted just how many offers result in a bidding war, and the number is quite high. According to the report, 72 percent of offers made in April, resulted in a bidding war. (up 45% y/y)
This is not a very large sample size – only Redfin agents self reporting make up the dataset. However, it should be used as an indicator of overall market conditions and temperature.
This heat is a direct result of a lack of inventory and is the 12th month in a row where the stat has been above 50%. Consumers are more than willing to pay much over ask price, in order to beat other buyers.

In the article, Boise, ID Redfin real estate agent Kristin Lopez said “there are no signs that the market will slow down anytime soon”. But – we disagree. There are in fact signs that this runaway train has stopped accelerating, indicating a positive, less concerning future.

Inventory:
The good news, is that we are on the road to inventory recovery – or at least we are pointed in the right direction. Inventory has started to trend upward for the first time in a year. (for TWO weeks in a row!)

Prices:
This is the first week in 2021 where prices didn’t climb week over week. National real estate prices actually hit a plateau. We can be grateful for this deceleration, and I am hopeful that will hold for some time.

Thanks for the data update from our friend Mike at Altos Research who’s weekly national market condition videos are killer.

Leads:

Demand is higher than anytime in our lifetimes. Finding people who are likely to move is key. Cold calling is not the answer – be sure to warm up prospects with branding familiarity prior to reaching out with a CTA or a personal connection.

Keep in mind that people who need to move frequently can’t – and you can help them. Housing affordability is running out of control due to home prices (not mortgage interest rates like we’ve seen before). Inventory must climb in order to slow the market allowing more people to feel comfortable listing their homes, and reducing the “should I wait” crowd.

Lets continue to keep an eye on this to see if the next two weeks work out that way – then we will have a better idea of what sellers may be thinking for Q3 / this summer.

Something Completely Different:
If you were thinking, “Oh, another cat pic. Chris loves Cats” No, not exactly. I’m not a cat person. Currently, we only have a fish and a snail at home. But I do appreciate a good cat gif.