As mortgage rates surge, August’s bidding-war rate fell to its lowest level since April 2020, according to a new Redfin report. 

In August, 44.6% of offers written by Redfin agents faced competition, the lowest since the start of the pandemic and down 63.5% from last year. August was the seventh straight month of declines, as mortgage rates topped 6%, pushing some buyers out of the market. 

To compare, the report found a typical bidding war in August had 3.2 offers compared to 3.5 offers in July and 5 offers in 2021. 

In Seattle, the bidding-war rate actually grew, as 33.9% of Redfin offers faced competition in August, up from 32.2% in July but down from last year’s 62.4%.

With home sales down nearly 20% from last year, the drop in bidding wars accompanies an overall  market cooling, as the pandemic-driven homebuying frenzy starts to wane. 

The lowest bidding-war rates were found in San Antonio, Texas, where only one in five or 21.7% of home offers faced competition in August; Tampa, with 23.8% of offers; Olympia, Washington, with 24.2%; Phoenix, with 26.4%; and Minneapolis, with 27%. 

The report also found Tampa, Olympia and Phoenix to be among the 20 housing markets cooling the fastest this year. 

Philadelphia had the highest bidding-war rate in August, with 61.7% of offers facing competition, followed by San Jose, California, at 58%, Providence, Rhode Island, at 58%, Boston at 54% and Detroit at 52.9%.