KEY POINTS
  • The primary reason longtime home searchers haven't bought a home yet is because they keep getting outbid, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
  • Well over half of all buyers, 56%, are facing bidding wars in their offers, according to a Redfin survey in January. That is up from 52% in December.
  • More than half of homes are now going under contract in less than two weeks.
People wait to visit a house for sale in Floral Park, Nassau County, New York, the United States, on Sept. 6, 2020.

Presidents Day weekend marks the unofficial start of the spring housing market, but if you're looking to get in this year, hold onto your wallet. Bidding wars are off the charts, even as home prices are rising rapidly.

The primary reason longtime home searchers haven't bought a house yet is because they keep getting outbid. About 40% of potential buyers cited that in a new survey by the National Association of Home Builders. The reasons are flipped from a year earlier, when 44% said unaffordable prices were the biggest reason they hadn't bought yet, and 19% cited getting outbid.