SEATTLE – (Realty News Report) – Nearly half of today’s homebuyers are submitting offers on homes they’ve never seen in person, according to a recent report from Redfin.
“I predict that by the end of the 2020 homebuying season, the majority of homebuyers will have made a sight-unseen offer,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather. “The pandemic has changed how many people evaluate homes, and combined with a highly competitive market, buyers who don’t adopt this approach risk losing out to those who do.”
Redfin agents point to several reasons buyers are making offers without in-person visits: health concerns related to the pandemic, faster migration patterns driven by remote work, and intense competition caused by an increasingly tight housing supply.
Housing supply remains constrained. Sellers who can postpone a move are often choosing to wait because they don’t want strangers touring their homes during the pandemic. As a result, inventory levels have shrunk in many markets.
For example, the Houston Association of Realtors reported that single-family home inventory fell to a 3.2-month supply in June, down from 4.3 months a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Houston recorded 9,328 single-family sales in June — the best month ever in the decades HAR has tracked sales.
Low mortgage rates — near record lows around 3 percent — are motivating buyers. When mortgage rates are low and inventory is tight, buyers are more likely to make quick decisions and place offers without a physical tour.
Consequently, most buyers begin their search online. Traffic on Houston Realtors’ websites rose about 70 percent year over year, and views of virtual 3D walkthroughs on Redfin.com surged 243% since late February, making remote buying easier than before.
Redfin’s data also show that about one in four potential homebuyers planning to purchase within a year are reducing the number of homes they tour in person because of the coronavirus, and 18% are not touring homes in person at all.
The pandemic has also spurred geographic moves as more employers adopt flexible remote-work policies. In the second quarter of 2020, a record 27% of house hunters looked to move to a different metropolitan area, up from 25% in the same quarter of 2019.
Aug. 3, 2020 Realty News Report Copyright 2020
File: Blind Bids — Homebuyers Making Offers on Houses Sight Unseen
