Seattle & Redmond neighborhoods ranked most competitive for home buyers in U.S.

SEATTLE — Seattle-based Redfin released a study that shows four local neighborhoods were ranked in the top 10 most competitive for home buyers in the entire country.

Two of the neighborhoods ranked in the top 10 are in Redmond: Overlake (2) & Grass Lawn (7).

The other two local neighborhoods to make the list were in Seattle: Roosevelt (4) & Phinney Ridge (9).

To rank the competitive markets, Redfin looked at the percentage of homes that sold above asking price, how quickly homes went under contract and the percentage of Redfin offers that faced bidding wars.

The study included data from the Multiple Listing Services, public records and Redfin.

A common factor for neighborhoods on the list was the proximity to technology jobs.

The two neighborhoods in Redmond are next to Microsoft.

“In my experience, that’s exactly what I’ve been seeing,” said Ryan Wilkerson , a realtor with John L. Scott. He sold a house in the Grass Lawn neighborhood a few weeks ago. “It starts with the tech jobs, Microsoft -- a lot of other tech companies brings in people from out of the area, out of the state, out of the country.”

KC Brants is a Redfin agent who specializes in the Eastside market.

She explained what factors were considered in the study.

“So it’s going to be how many offers there were on a property, how competitive it was, how high over the list price it went and how many cash offers there were on the property," said Brants.

She doesn’t expect it to get better.

“It is not particularly fun to be a buyer in this market right now,” said Brants. “It is a great time to own a home in Redmond.”

Below are the 10 most competitive neighborhoods for homebuyers in 2015:

Rank; Neighborhood (City); Metro Area

(source: Redfin. See the full list.)

KIRO