Competition for homes across the nation is easing as it has been seen since the early days of the coronaviruses, according to a recent Redfin report.
In July, 44.3% of home offers from Redfin agents faced competition nationwide, a decline from 50.9% in June and 63.8% last July, according to a real estate brokerage.
The typical home last month saw 3.5 offers down from 4.1 offers in June and 5.3 offers last July, according to the data.
July marked the sixth month in a row that bidding wars eased. There was the lowest share of home offers facing competition on record except for April 2020 when the onset of the coronaviruses brought the housing market to a near standstill, according to Redfin Friday.
An increasing number of potential buyers are priced out of the market due to the high inflation and mortgage rates.
According to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the 30 year fixed mortgage rate averaged 5.22% as of Thursday. It was up from last week when it averaged 4.99%. A year ago, the fixed 30-year mortgage rate averaged 2.87%.
S. CRISIS Properties are sitting on the market longer and the housing shortage is easing, which is giving buyers more options and room to negotiate, according to Redfin.
Sellers are dropping their asking prices because of this. According to the brokerage, 8% of listings on the market have dropped in asking price every week, which is the highest share on record.
Phoenix had the lowest bidding-war rate, with just over one-quarter of home offers encountering competition in July.
Riverside, California, was not far behind with 31% of home offers facing competition. Seattle had 31.5% of home offers facing competition, while Austin, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee had 31.7% and 33.3% home offers facing competition.
Many of these areas attracted scores of out-of-town homebuyers during the pandemic, pushing up prices and rendering them prohibitively expensive for some house hunters - one reason they now have relatively low bidding-war rates, the brokerage said.
Raleigh, North Carolina had the highest bidding-war rate, with 63.8% of homes facing competition.
About 63% of homes in Honolulu faced competition, followed by 60.5% of homes in Providence, Rhode Island.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Worcester, Massachusetts, were next with 60.4% and 54.8% of homes facing competition, according to the brokerage.