A report from the Seattle Times in Washington. "For years, the dreaded bidding war was a depressing rite of passage for anyone entering the Seattle-area real-estate market.  But with the market turning, those days are gone. The number of buyers out there keeps dropping, while more sellers are seeing their homes sit unsold for weeks, prompting them to cut list prices just to attract a single buyer."

"Peng Tea, a John L. Scott broker on the Eastside, said sellers have mostly done away with 'offer review dates' – a deadline for interested buyers to submit their bids, usually a week after the listing goes live — in favor of taking bids on a first-come, first-served basis."

"The second advantage is on terms. Previously  buyers were doing uncomfortable things, like handing over large sums of nonrefundable earnest money, to outshine other bidders. Now, with the power swinging the other way, sellers have been more willing to fix things like plumbing at their own cost, or to approve a delayed sale contingent on the buyer’s ability to turn around and sell their own home."


"Tea said a client bought a house in Bellevue two weeks ago as the lone bidder, and was able to leverage that position to knock $30,000 off the list price and $7,500 off closing costs. The buyer also kept all their contingencies – allowing the buyer to back out if their mortgage falls through, for instance."

"'You’ll have a much higher likelihood of keeping some protections for yourself as a buyer,' Tea said. 'It’s a much more favorable market for a buyer today, especially as you go toward the higher price points. You have more power to negotiate.'"


"The lack of competition is just the latest indicator of a real-estate market that has been cooling for the last six months. Inventory is up, prices are down and sales volumes have declined."

"And brokers have reported less investment money pouring in from buyers in China, who are more likely to make all-cash offers that typically win bidding wars."

"Seattle is also part of a national trend: Even though the market is changing faster here than just about anywhere, markets are cooling in other areas, especially in pricey West Coast cities."

"The national rate of bidding wars was 32 percent in November, the lowest in at least seven years and down from 59 percent at the start of the spring, Redfin’s data shows."



From Curbed Los Angeles in California. "Home prices in Los Angeles reached record heights in 2018, climbing to levels far above those recorded in the years leading up to the Great Recession. But price increases have fallen off since summer, and a new analysis from Zillow suggests a cooling trend in the market will continue into the new year."


"Now that median home prices have climbed to unprecedented levels in Los Angeles, many buyers may be priced out of the market, says Skylar Olsen, Zillow’s director of economic research.  Others may simply bide their time."

"'We think a big part of it is basically demand exhaustion,' Olsen says. 'People can’t just outbid each other anymore.'"


"Jordan Levine, senior economist for the California Association of Realtors, suggests some buyers are hoping prices will suddenly bottom out. 'Some folks remember 2008, when prices fell dramatically,' Levine says. 'There’s a big consumer confidence element to the housing market. No one wants to be the last one in.'"

"Levine says it’s a mistake to think home values will tank the way they did during the last recession, since mortgage providers are still shying away from the kind of risky home loans that fueled the housing market’s last collapse. More likely, says Levine, is that home values will continue to grow—but at a more modest rate."


"Olsen agrees. 'Really we’re getting back to normal,' she says. 'This is actually good news, though sellers probably won’t see it that way.'"


"Buyers might also have a hard time getting excited. As Levine points out, nearly three in four residents of Los Angeles County can’t afford to buy a median-priced home in the area. 'There is a limit to how much folks can afford to pay,' he says. 'People are actually picking up and leaving.'"