SEATTLE-Redfin (www.redfin.com), the technology-powered real estate brokerage, has released its July 2013 Bidding War Report based on Offer Insights, statistics compiled from thousands of offers written each month by Redfin agents for their home-buying clients.
Competition for homes across the U.S. dropped from 68.6% in June to 63.3% in July. The number of Redfin offers facing competition peaked in March at 75.7%. This bidding war data is in line with other Redfin research that points toward the strong sellers' market beginning to shift toward more balance, giving frustrated home-buyers a bit of relief.
Redfin agents report that buyers who have been in the market for even a few months have noticed the change in their favor. Increasing inventory, rapidly rising home prices and interest rate spikes all contribute to the continuing trend toward a less competitive market. Less measurable market forces such as buyer fatigue and buyers taking summer vacations probably also played a role in this trend.
Redfin agents and analysts are closely monitoring bidding war rates, expecting them to continue their downward trend into the fall. This would be a contrast to last year's pattern, which saw the market heat up in the autumn months.

The report's key findings include:

-- As a result of reduced competition, winning offers fell closer to list
prices for the second consecutive month. Nationally, the average
difference between winning offers and list prices fell to 0.6% in
July from 0.9% in June and 1.4 percent in May.
-- San Diego and Orange County saw the largest decreases in competition,
with bidding war rates falling by more than 10 percentage points in
July.
-- Washington, D.C.'s bidding war rate saw the smallest decline, falling
just 1.2 points in July.
-- Baltimore was the only metro area where bidding wars increased, with an
8.8 percentage point jump in July.