According to a recent report released the real estate experts at Redfin, more than half (54.5%) of its home offers were embroiled in bidding wars during the month of August 2020. Although these recent findings dipped from July’s revised rate of 57.3%, these statistics still prove that the competition remains fierce in the housing market today.
The report pinpoints the hottest regions of the real estate market, which still include some of the more pricey coastal regions, such as the San Francisco and San Diego. Those two areas are among the three most competitive markets reported in August. Fast on their heels was Salt Lake City (each of these locales’ averaged about 65% of Redfin offers facing bidding wars).
Other sizzling spots across the nation where bidding wars raged included America's more affordable regions, such as inland metros. The top three of these locales were Sacramento, followed by Phoenix, and then Austin.
With such encouraging statistics showing that the housing market is alive and pulsing, it continues to be one of the few beacons of light in a year filled with uncertainty (and an economy that reflects that instability). The main factors that are contributing to this hot housing market right now, according to experts, directly resulted from the pandemic and include the historically low mortgage rates we are experiencing (the average 30-year fixed rate was 2.91% the week ending August 27), and a tight supply of homes for sale.
San Diego Redfin agent Lisa Padilla commented on the current state of the housing market: "The market is on fire. There just isn't enough on the market to supply the huge demand for homes.” Padilla further commented on who is buying most at the moment, and what: “A lot of military buyers are trying to take advantage of the low interest rates for VA loans. Anything on sale for less than $600,000 has multiple offers, and sometimes they're getting more than 20 offers. Only condos are a little slow, as most buyers want a home with a yard.”