WASHINGTON — Fewer home sellers nationwide got more than their asking price last year, but that was not the case in the D.C. area.
Real estate firm Zillow says 26.2 percent of homes in the Washington region that sold in 2018 went for more than list price, up from 24.1 percent in 2017.
Buyers willing to compete with other buyers for a property agreed to pay an average of $6,000 over the list price, a premium of about 1.8 percent.
Zillow reports the share of homes sold above asking price nationwide declined each month in the second half of 2018, and December saw the biggest month-over-month drop since at least 2012.
Washington and Philadelphia were the only markets out of the top 10 to see an increase in the number of properties selling for more than asking price.
“With mortgage rates now back down, early data from the first month of 2019 suggest that it is still
premature to call it a buyer’s market,” said Zillow senior economist Aaron Terrazas.
“But more than any time in recent memory, it is important for sellers to be thoughtful in their listing
strategy. Buyers are out there, but they’re no longer fighting each other tooth and nail to get in the door.”
While the number of sales over list has declined, bidding wars are still quite common in some of the priciest housing markets.
In 2018, 64.1 percent of sales in San Jose closed above list. In San Francisco, it was 61.1 percent.
That includes a record $101,000 median price above asking in San Jose in 2018, breaking the previous record of $70,000 set in San Jose in 2017.
At the other end of the scale is Miami, where only 9.7 percent of home sold above asking. Nearly 84 percent of homes in Miami sold for below their asking price last year.
