Overbidding slowing down, but housing market still a crisis: Huispedia

In the first quarter of this year, home buyers bid an average of 4.8 percent above the asking price, housing platform Huispedia reported. That is about the same as the previous two quarters, but the slowdown in overbidding is no reason to celebrate. The housing market is still in crisis due to the shortage of homes. “It is an illusion to think that we can breathe easy for a moment,” Huispedia CEO Maxim Bours said.

The average overbid has increased significantly every quarter since the start of 2023, until it stagnated in the last quarter of 2024, and that has now continued, Huispedia said.

But that is not an indication of recovery in the housing market, the housing platform said. Last quarter, 70.3 percent of homes sold above the asking price, compared to 69.7 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. And fewer homes sold below the asking price. In the first quarter, 10 percent of homes were listed again at a lower price, compared to 12.1 percent the quarter before.

“Many home buyers are following the market when it comes to overbidding, but are now at their maximum budget. The fact that overbidding remains more or less the same is because many buyers can no longer bid higher,” Bours said. “It is an illusion to think that we can breathe easy for a moment: overbidding is still happening high and often. And we expect that when the interest rate drops again, overbidding will also increase quickly.”

“1.8 million households are actively looking for a home that many of them cannot find: the housing market is still completely stuck,” Bours said. But according to him, it is not only the housing shortage driving up prices.

“The core of the problem in the housing market lies with buyers and sellers who have each other in a stranglehold. If we want to get out of this, we need three things: more housing supply, access to important housing insights for everyone, and a watertight bidding process that does not disadvantage anyone.”