Did you buy a home last year? Did you make an above-asking bid?
Approximately 24 percent of for-sale homes in 2017 sold for higher than what they were listed for, according to an analysis recently released by Zillow. Five years ago, that figure was roughly 17 percent.
The average gain for sellers? $7,000.
“In the face of historically tight inventory, buyers have had to be more aggressive in their offers,” says Aaron Terrazas, senior economist at Zillow. “We don’t expect this inventory crunch to ease meaningfully in 2018, meaning buyers will be facing many of the same struggles this year.”
The average is close to 10 times higher in San Jose, Calif., where bids bumped the price up by $62,000—the biggest gap between list and sold price. In San Jose, the drive-up is the new normal: 68.5 percent of for-sale homes sold for higher than what they were listed for last year. Similar scenarios are playing out in San Francisco and Seattle.
“Low interest rates and strong labor markets with high-paying jobs have allowed homebuyers in some of the country’s priciest housing markets to bid well over asking price,” Terrazas says. “In the booming tech capitals of the California Bay Area and Pacific Northwest, paying above list price is now the norm.”
For more information, please visit www.zillow.com.
Suzanne De Vita is RISMedia’s online news editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at sdevita@rismedia.com. For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
