Competition Heats Up With 5 Offers Per Home Sold

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The spring market is already blooming, and so is the competition. Buyer competition intensified ahead of spring in February and likely will intensify further over the next few weeks.

On average, there were nearly five offers for every home sold in February, higher than in recent months, according to the February 2022 REALTORS® Confidence Index Survey. Real estate professionals who were surveyed reported more than five offers, on average, in Massachusetts, Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Washington, and California.

Nationwide, 48% of buyers’ offers were above the list price, according to NAR’s data. On average, those offers were about 2.9% above the list price; on the median-priced home, that would be about $10,000 over the asking price. However, 13% of the offers were 10% above the list price.

Real estate pros report that in general their buyers typically lose two homes before succeeding on the third try, according to the study.

Homes are selling quickly under the intense competition. Eighty-four percent of listings were on the market for less than a month.

“Competition could intensify in 2022 before waning in 2023 as home buyers compete to lock in at the current rates,” Gay Cororaton, a research economist for NAR, writes on the association’s blog. “Mortgage rates may rise more steeply in 2023.” View the latest on rates.