Hello, Old Friend…
The buying and selling process can be stressful at times. On the buy side, over the past 5-10 years, the sheer level of competition for homes (boosted by a lack of supply and overwhelming demand) led to many people becoming frustrated with multiple offer scenarios. Buyers had very little negotiating power when they were competing with scores of other interested consumers.
The numerous interest rate hikes over the past year led to a softening in the market and shifted the balance of power from the sellers to the buyers. For many months now, buyers have been able to make offers on potential homes armed with something they’ve rarely had in the previous 5+ years: Leverage. It became common once again to see conditional offers, and more due diligence being performed on the buy side; a welcome change to the often stressful multiple offer process.
However, since the beginning of February, there has been a sharp rise in bidding wars. The housing supply still remains low, but it seems that buyers that were hesitant to purchase over the past few months have come back into the fold. Once again, multiple offers have become the norm in recent weeks. This past week alone I have seen 15, 20, and even 25+ offers being registered on a single property. I am also seeing a lot more freehold homes being listed with offer presentation dates* and it stands to reason that this trend will continue once the spring market hits.
A few weeks back when I asked if we have “reached the bottom” I did not expect the answer to be so resounding (in the short term). If these recent weeks are any indication of what is to come moving forward, we may see a bit of a bounce back in the market in the early stages of this year; something that didn’t seem very likely just a couple months ago.
*an offer presentation date occurs when the seller chooses a specific date to review any/all offers for their property (usually after a few days/a week of being on the market). This is usually done when there is a significant amount of interest in the property. This way every buyer gets a chance to prepare and in turn, the process is more streamlined and less chaotic for the seller.
