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Bidding Wars Tick Up

Eleven percent of offers written by Redfin agents on behalf of their homebuying customers in September came amid bidding wars, up from the eight-year low of 10 percent in August–but still down from 41 percent one year earlier.
San Francisco was the national leader in bidding wars, with 28 percent of Redfin offers being the subject of financial one-upmanship. Still, it was down from 69 percent from the previous year. Across the Bay Area, San Jose saw 18 percent of its offers recording bidding wars in September, down from 83 percent one year earlier.
"After the coolest spring home-selling season in at least eight years, homebuying competition didn't have far to fall, but low mortgage rates ultimately drove a modest uptick in bidding wars in late summer when they typically become less common," said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. "With mortgage rates likely to remain near historic lows, I expect the bidding war rate to continue to level off—rather than follow its typical end-of-year descent—as 2019 comes to a close."
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