Negotiation with Information

In nearly every instance representing a buyer, agents will be asked for advice on how much should the buyer offer for a property. Specifically, they'll either want to know what's the least that they can offer and still have a reasonable chance at getting the deal done, or how much do they need to pony up to make sure they get the home they have their eyes on (without feeling ripped off).

Local agents typically have a great feel for their market, yet to maintain objectivity they'll need hard facts to pass along to their clients to counsel their decision. This series will pool such data together into useful shareables.

How Much Over (or under) Asking?

Using data for 2023 Q1 home sales provided by Zillow, we can determine a fantastic benchmark for an offer. The national average sale price to list price ratio for the quarter was 0.981. This means the average sale is below asking nationwide. From there we can get to the percentage under asking these offers are accepted at: 1.9%

Looking Back at 2022

Just for fun let's look at the same numbers for Q1 of 2022. Using the same winter months to eliminate any seasonal changes, we have a pure snapshot of buyers gaining leverage in the past year.

Now for the Good Part

Below we have the same calculation for the 150 largest metropolitan areas in the US. This is the number you'll want to share with your clients so they can plan their offer amount.

Stay Tuned

Each month as more data becomes available, we'll be able to keep our finger on the pulse of where offers are coming in nationwide. If you want to stay up to date on all of our research you can join the email list here!