Low supply and rock bottom mortgage rates are keeping the housing market highly competitive even during the ongoing pandemic.
Today I wanted to talk about a recent Inman article describing just how competitive our Utah Real Estate market really is.
Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and San Diego were the three most competitive metro areas for Redfin agents making offers last month. This indicates that low supply and rock bottom mortgage rates are keeping the housing market highly competitive even during the ongoing pandemic.
This article published on August 10th showed that in Salt Lake City, in the month of July 75% of Redfin agents’ offers faced competition. That’s up from 67% in June. It shows the bidding war rate remains steady as homebuyers contend with competition driven by a decrease in listings year over year of nearly 40%, and coupled with record low-interest rates.
It’s possible we may see this increase. Redfin’s chief economist Daryl Fairweather stated that if coronavirus cases continue to rise, more employers will likely make flexible remote work policies standard procedure, which will drive further migration out of large expensive cities that may lead to bidding wars gain more traction in suburban areas and small towns.
I can already see this in our local market, with areas in and around Ogden seeing a spike in homebuyer traffic. We’ve also seen farther reaches of suburban Utah cities like Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain getting hit by a wave of buyers.
While this data is specifically taken from one company, I can tell you that on The Stern Team over 80% of our listings under $500,000 are selling with multiple offers. So I think it is reflective of our market as a whole. We’ve had one property that received 54 offers. That’s bonkers! As a buyer, be aware that in multiple offer situations, almost every offer is above list price.
If you’re thinking of selling your home, please make sure that you have a strategy in place to take advantage of this market. A professional virtual tour, a grand opening strategy, and a strong pre-to-market strategy will ensure the most offers with the least hassle.
If you’re thinking of buying, join the club. But be sure that you work with a buyer’s only specialist who is skilled in negotiating for buyers to win in a seller’s market. These strategies will change your trajectory with your home buying and selling goals to make sure you’re in the lead, not coming from behind.
