Good news for home sellers: Bidding wars are making a comeback.
A new report released Monday by Redfin found that 49.4 percent of Redfin offers faced competition in May – up 43.9 percent in April. The uptick is being fueled by a shortage of inventory, as there were 18.9 percent fewer houses on the market in May than a year earlier.
“Bidding wars also jumped in May because homebuyers felt they were starting to get more clarity around where the economy was headed, with cities around the nation lifting stay-at-home orders. This gave house hunters more confidence to compete,” Redfin lead economist Taylor Marr said. “But with coronavirus cases back on the rise in many states, only time will tell whether that confidence is sustainable.”
Of the 24 metropolitan areas examined, 11 saw a majority of Redfin offers facing competition in May. That’s up from just eight in April.
Redfin said 51.5 percent of offers for single-family homes faced competition in May, up from 45.6 percent in April. That compares with 48.7 percent of offers for townhouses and 38.8 percent for condos.
Here is a look at what percentage of offers experienced bidding wars in each metropolitan area:
| Metro Area | Offers With Competition – May | Offers With Competition – April |
| Boston | 42.1% | 56% |
| Dallas | 60.8% | 43.2% |
| Washington, D.C. | 57% | 57.5% |
| Salt Lake City | 55.7% | 57.5% |
| Denver | 55.4% | 40.4% |
| Seattle | 55.2% | 51.2% |
| Austin | 54.8% | 44.7% |
| San Francisco/ San Jose | 53.4% | 52.4% |
| Minneapolis | 52.2% | 41.2% |
| Los Angeles | 51.2% | 47.1% |
| Portland (Ore) | 51% | 50.6% |
| Detroit | 50% | 23.5% |
| San Diego | 49.1% | 53.4% |
| New York | 45.7% | 41% |
| Sacramento | 45.5% | 53.4% |
| Atlanta | 44.2% | 37% |
| Philadelphia | 42.7% | 40.9% |
| Phoenix | 41.9% | 37.6% |
| Houston | 40.3% | 37.5% |
| Raleigh | 37.7% | 29% |
| Chicago | 34.6% | 30.4% |
| Las Vegas | 33.8% | 55% |
| Tampa | 31.5% | 17.9% |
| Miami | 28.6% | 26.1% |
| National | 49.4% | 43.9% |