Thirty-five percent of offers written by Redfin agents in San Francisco faced a bidding war in May, up from 5 percent in January but down from 77 percent in May 2018, according to a report from Redfin.
Nationally, a mere 16 percent of Redfin offers faced a bidding war in May.
“Earlier this year, the San Francisco housing market appeared to be running out of gas, but the recent tech IPOs have reignited competition,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a relase. “Buyers want to get in now before prices shoot up, while many would-be sellers are holding out for higher prices. With more people looking to buy homes than there are homes for sale, what you have is a recipe for bidding wars.”
In addition to San Diego, where 24 percent of offers faced a bidding war, no other metropolitan areas had more than 20 percent of offers face bidding wars in May, Redfin said.
“Bidding wars are back with a fury in San Francisco,” Redfin agent Miriam Westberg said. “We’ve seen as many as 33 offers on one property recently, and most offers have no contingencies or are all-cash offers substantially higher than the list price.
“A few recent buyers have been surprised by how much competition they faced when they submitted their first offer since they heard about the slowdown at the end of last year,” Westberg said. “But it just takes that one failed offer for most to realize what they are in for. It feels like early spring/summer 2018 again.”
According to the report, the least competitive market in May was Miami, where just 1 percent of Redfin offers faced competition; followed by Raleigh, N.C. (5 percent); and Dallas (6 percent).