Web-based Analysts Say Home Bidding Eases While Prices Climb

SEATTLE and SAN FRANCISCO-Redfin says competition for homes dropped a bit in August compared to July, and compared to August 2012. Meanwhile National home value appreciation continued to climb in August, according to Zillow.

Redfin, the technology-powered real estate brokerage, recently released its August 2013 Real-Time Bidding War Report based on Offer Insights, statistics compiled from thousands of offers written each month by Redfin agents for their home-buying clients. In August, 60.5% of offers Redfin agents wrote faced bidding wars, down from 63.3% in July and from 63.5% in August 2012.

This was the fifth month in a row that Redfin reported a month-over-month drop in competition but was the first year-over-year drop in competition seen since the brokerage began collecting this data in 2011.

Zillow says national home value appreciation continued to climb in August, up 0.4% from July to a “Zillow Home Value Index” of $162,10. Home values were up 6.6% annually in August, the largest gain since July 2006, when home values rose 7.9% year-over-year.

As Redfin analysts and agents predicted once mortgage rates began to rise early in the summer, the falling bidding war rates signal a shift from market that was firmly in the seller's territory toward a more balanced market.

Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered real estate broker that represents people buying and selling homes. Founded and run by technologists, Redfin, has a team of experienced, full-service real estate agents who are advocates, not sales-people, earning customer-satisfaction bonuses, not commissions.

Zillow, Inc. operates the largest home-related marketplaces on mobile and the Web, with a complementary portfolio of brands and products that help people find vital information about homes, and connect with the best local professionals. In addition, Zillow operates an industry-leading economics and analytics bureau led by Zillow's chief economist Dr. Stan Humphries.