We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
How We Make Money.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
How We Make Money.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
Jeff Ostrowski covers mortgages and the housing market. Before joining Bankrate in 2020, he wrote about real estate and the economy for the Palm Beach Post and the South Florida…
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict
, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here’s an explanation for
Editorial Integrity
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
How We Make Money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
The U.S. housing market is still hot, but bidding wars are easing a bit from the frenzied days of last summer, according to data from Movoto by OJO, a residential real estate search site.
Some 40 percent of homes sold in December fetched more than their list price, down from 41.1 percent in November. December marked the sixth consecutive month that competition had declined on a month-over-month basis.
Despite the cooldown in the second half of 2021, the housing market remains significantly hotter than it was a year ago. In December 2020, 30.9 percent of homes sold above list price.
The 5 hottest housing markets
California dominated the list of the most competitive housing markets:
San Francisco. In the nation’s most competitive metro area, 67 percent of homes sold above list price. Homes in San Francisco sold for an average of $96,630 above list price.
San Diego. Fully 55.9 percent of homes sold above list price, going for an average of $10,929 above list price.
Los Angeles. While 54.9 percent of LA homes went above list price, the overall average price of homes was $3,285 below the asking price.
Boston. Some 53.5 percent of homes fetched more than the asking price. Sales averaged $6,792 over listing price.
Sacramento. Last month saw 51.7 percent of homes sell for more than the asking price. Overall, Sacramento homes went for an average of $1,576 above asking.
The 5 coolest housing markets
At the opposite end of the competitiveness scale, Florida led the way.
Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia. In the nation’s least competitive metro area, just 5.1 percent of homes sold above list price in December.
Pensacola, Florida. In the Panhandle metro area, 23.1 percent of homes went for less than the asking price in December.
Fort Myers-Naples, Florida. In this metro area, 24.1 percent of homes sold above their list prices.
Miami. The Miami market saw 24.9 percent of homes sell above their list price.
West Palm Beach. In this South Florida metro area, 27.1 percent of properties exceeded their asking price.
Movoto by OJO is a unit of OJO Labs, a business partner of Bankrate.
Jeff Ostrowski covers mortgages and the housing market. Before joining Bankrate in 2020, he wrote about real estate and the economy for the Palm Beach Post and the South Florida Business Journal.
Share