Last month, 20.5% of homes nationwide – roughly one in five – sold for above their original list price, according to new data from Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN). This is down from a 22.8% share recorded one year earlier.
Nearly two-thirds of transactions (64.2%) were closed for less than their original list price, compared with 60.9% a year earlier, while 15.4% sold for exactly their original list price, compared with 16.3% a year earlier for the lowest February share since 2019.
Redfin also noted that eight of the 50 most populous metropolitan areas saw an increase in the share of homes selling for above their original list price in February, with half of those metros being either in California’s Bay Area or the greater New York City market. In San Francisco, 57.2% of homes that sold went for more than their original list price, up 7.5 percentage points from a year earlier. Other metros experiencing a similar upswing included Nassau County, New York (+4.4 ppts), San Jose (+3.5 ppts), Milwaukee (+2.7 ppts), San Antonio (+2.4 ppts), New York City (+2.2 ppts), Portland, Oregon (+1.4 ppts), and Philadelphia (+0.8 ppts).
At the other end of the spectrum, 51.2% of homes that sold in San Diego last month went for less than the seller originally asked for, up 8.9 percentage points year-over-year.
“When sellers have a polished home that’s priced appropriately, it will sell really, really quickly,” said Charles Wheeler, a Redfin Premier real estate agent in San Diego. “It’s the sellers that really want to push the value that get into trouble. Even overpricing by $20,000 can scare buyers off and cause a home to sit on the market.”
