zavvie Launches New Seller Preferences Report

The study looks at Q4 iBuyer, bridge solution trends

New zavvie Seller Preferences Report

Despite the pandemic, last year set new real estate sales records. But how did iBuyers fare? The unprecedented scarce inventory conditions continuing into this year have heavily favored sellers, a perfect environment to introduce the hottest new method of selling a home — buy-before-you-sell bridge providers. Has iBuying been overtaken in the race for seller attention?

The new zavvie Seller Preferences Report, covering all selling solutions available to homeowners throughout the U.S. from October to December 2020, was released today by zavvie, the first end-to-end real estate brokerage platform encompassing all selling solutions.

Last year, "iBuyers were down but definitely not out," said Stefan Peterson, zavvie Chief Data Officer and Co-Founder. "iBuyers continued expanding into new markets and are buying higher-priced homes, meeting seller demand, and delivering high seller satisfaction. But the biggest surprise for sellers in 2020 is the rapid emergence of the bridge buy-before-you-sell providers." The new report provides all the details.

The zavvie Seller Preferences Report is the only quarterly review of its kind for every selling solution available to homeowners throughout the U.S. The report looks specifically at activity among iBuyers and the increasing influence of bridge solutions nationwide. It examines offer strength, offer acceptance rates, service fees, average concessions, and time to close for selling solution providers.

The zavvie Seller Preferences Report Q4 and 2020 year-end highlights:  

  • iBuyer purchases fell 57% last year from 2019.
  • iBuyer and bridge provider "buy boxes" (their targeted purchase price range, age, and other conditions) continued to widen in Q4.
  • iBuyers' offer strength is down 3.1 percent, year-over-year, falling from 98.6 percent of market price in 2019 to 95.1 percent in Q4
  • Offer acceptance rate for iBuyers continues to rise to 6.1 percent in Q4, a 45 percent increase from 2019.
  • Bridge solutions are hotter than ever: Offers continued to be accepted much more frequently than iBuyer offers as the bridge offer acceptance rate was five times higher than for iBuyer offers in Q4.
  • Bridge programs expanded their buy boxes to include homes up to $2 million and in lower-population-density areas.
  • iBuyer service fees dropped significantly in Q4 and for the full year, down 21 percent from 7.6 percent in 2019 to 6 percent in 2020.
  • iBuyer average concessions, time to close, and seller satisfaction all were higher in Q4. Notably, average seller satisfaction passed 9.0 on a scale of 1-10.

"The new zavvie Sellers Preference Report helps empower the modern agent," added Peterson, pointing out that zavvie also recently released its new Verified Buyer Map. This interactive nationwide map shows where leading iBuyer and bridge solution providers operate.

"The modern agent brings iBuyer, bridge solutions, and an open market listing — all of the selling options — to the table. Instead of fearing what disruptors are doing, the modern agent co-ops these new selling methods because they are the trusted advisor. The modern agent helps consumers fully understand all their choices, showing the advantages and disadvantages of each."

The complete zavvie Seller Preferences Report is available for free at zavvie.com/seller-preferences.

About zavvie

zavvie is a technology company that empowers the modern agent by making it easy to provide all selling options: iBuyer, bridge, and open market through our proprietary Offer Optimizer™ Suite. zavvie gives top brokerages and agents all they need to thrive in today's evolving real estate landscape: easy-to-use tools, technology, training, marketing, and strategy. Discover more at zavvie.com.

Media Contact:
Kevin Hawkins | zavvie
206-866-1220 | kevin@wavgroup.com

Source: zavvie