Low Inventory And High Competition

If you thought January was an extremely competitive month for housing you weren’t alone and you weren’t wrong, according to the latest data from Redfin…(Redfin)

  • 70% of home offers written by Redfin agents faced bidding wars in January.
  • This is up from 67.7% in December and 61% in January 2021.

Spokane, WA had the highest bidding-war rate with 83.3% of offers written by Redfin agents facing competition in January…

  • Sacramento, CA came in number two with a bidding-war rate of 80.4% followed by Seattle at 79.7%.

Unfortunately, this hyper-competitive market did not lead to more home sales, according to Zonda Economics’ latest New Home Pending Sales Index…(Zonda Economics)

  • M-O-M: The New Home Pending Sales Index was down 4.8% month-over-month to 149.8 in January.
  • Y-O-Y: Pending home sales were down 14.0% when compared to January 2021.

NOTE: The PSI is up 22.5% compared to two years ago.

Ali Wolf, chief economist at Zonda Economics, said 2022 can be summed in two words…

  • “The housing market in 2022 can be defined by two words: enthusiasm and panic. Buyers are trying to rush into this tight market before rates raise much higher and builders are in a race against time to help meet the interest.”