Boston saw fewer house and condominium listings receive multiple offers last month, according to a new report from Redfin.

The low-fee broker said only 63.7 percent of offers its agents wrote in the area met with at least one competing offer, compared to 71.2 percent in September.

That made Boston the 13th-most competitive market in Redfin’s October ranking.

The decline is in line with other data pointing to the return of seasonality to the residential real estate market. In pre-pandemic years, the region typically saw a decline in the intensity of buyer interest as the fall wore on.

However, the share of multiple-offer situations Redfin reported in October 2021 is still elevated above pre-pandemic norms. October 2018, for example, saw 48.6 percent of offers submitted by Boston Redfin agents meet with competition, while September 2019 saw 56.1 percent of such offers meet competition.

Data reported before Thanksgiving by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors and The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, suggests buyer demand remains intense, albeit at lower levels than during 2021’s hyperactive spring market, when Redfin reported nearly 80 percent of offers written by its agents in Boston met with competition in April and May.

Nationally, the rate of multiple-offer situations reported by Redfin agents stayed nearly constant from September to October, at 60.4 percent and 60.3 percent, respectively, down from a peak of 74.5 percent in April.

“While the housing market slowed in October, the latest homebuying demand data indicates it may be heating back up this month – a sign that bidding wars could start to tick up again,” Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather said in a statement. “Homebuyers who dropped out of the housing market in the spring have returned under the assumption there will be less competition. They may be surprised to discover that bidding wars are still common because so many house hunters are looking to take advantage of low mortgage rates before they rise.”

Redfin: Boston Saw Fewer Multiple Offers in October

by James Sanna time to read: 1 min
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