News Releases
Sight-unseen offers will likely continue to climb in the coming months, according to Redfin chief economist
Many Americans who were already considering relocating before the coronavirus pandemic are now taking the plunge, as mortgage rates continue to fall and employers implement flexible remote-work policies. A record 27% of house hunters looked to move to different metro area in the second quarter of 2020, up from 25% in the second quarter of 2019.
Additionally, about a quarter of people who plan to buy a home in the next year are limiting the number of properties they're touring in person due to the coronavirus, while 18% aren't touring in person at all, according to another recent Redfin survey. Buying a home remotely has become easier as touring technology has improved. Views of virtual 3D walkthroughs on Redfin.com have surged 243% since late February, and video tours led by Redfin agents now account for 1 in 10 of all Redfin home showings, up from less than 1% at the beginning of March.
"A big part of doing video tours is establishing trust between me and my clients," said Cleveland Redfin agent
Intensifying competition is also contributing to the uptick in sight-unseen offers. More than half of Redfin offers faced bidding wars in June as the number of homes for sale continued to shrink and mortgage rates dropped to a record low, making it all the more advantageous for house hunters to get their offers in ASAP—sometimes before seeing the home in person.
To view the full report, including methodology, please visit: https://www.redfin.com/blog/buying-house-sight-unseen-increases
About Redfin
Redfin (www.redfin.com) is a technology-powered residential real estate company, redefining real estate in the consumer's favor in a commission-driven industry. We do this by integrating every step of the home buying and selling process and pairing our own agents with our own technology, creating a service that is faster, better and costs less. We offer brokerage, iBuying, mortgage, and title services, and we also run the country's #1 real estate brokerage search site, offering a host of online tools to consumers, including the Redfin Estimate. We represent people buying and selling homes in over 90 markets in
For more information or to contact a local Redfin real estate agent, visit www.redfin.com. To learn about housing market trends and download data, visit the
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SOURCE Redfin
Redfin Journalist Services - Angela Cherry, (913) 638-8249, press@redfin.com