Neighbors Realty owner Brad Twiss saw the shift firsthand in Portland. “We did 33 transactions last year, and I don’t think we wrote a single offer in October,” he said. That changed in January, when a house on a busy street drew several offers right away. “Then, every weekend since has basically been multiple offers.”
Read MoreIn late 2021, Zillow shut down Zillow Offers, its program that bought homes directly from sellers, flipped, and resold them. The company had underestimated how fast prices would rise, then overpaid as the market cooled. It lost more than $400 million in one quarter and was left holding almost 18,000 homes. Marketplace looked at what Zillow’s exit meant for “iBuyers,” companies that make instant cash offers on homes.
Read MoreIn spring 2021, as vaccines rolled out and pandemic restrictions eased, homebuying season came back in force. Marketplace reported that new listings were up 30%, inventory was starting to stabilize, and buyers, mostly first-time millennials with mortgage rates at or below 3.5%, were snapping up homes.
Read MoreAs COVID-19 restrictions took hold in spring 2020, buying a home suddenly got complicated. Marketplace looked at how the market was adapting: virtual tours nearly doubled on Zillow, some buyers made offers on homes they’d never seen in person, appraisers drove by instead of walking through, and notaries passed closing papers through car windows. Mortgage rates were low, but growing job losses meant fewer buyers ahead.
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