From the April issue: As The Real Deal and other publications have reported, bidding wars — once thought to be bygone relics of the real estate boom — started reappearing in New York late last year.

At that time, the battles were limited to rare or exceptionally well-priced properties. But now that much of the city’s residential inventory has been snapped up, bidding wars are becoming the rule rather than the exception for market-priced property.

“You don’t have to be provocatively low [-priced] to solicit a bidding war today,” said Barak Dunayer, president of Barak Realty, estimating that his company now receives multiple offers on nearly three-quarters of its properties that are priced appropriately for the market. “It’s almost every listing that we have.” [more]

After months of lackluster residential sales in the city, bidding wars are back, according to the New York Times. Brokers say that a well-priced home — that is, one that’s around 20 to 30 percent lower than 2008 figures — is best-positioned to inspire a bidding war on the market. Amelia Gewirtz, an executive vice president with Halstead Property, said that brokers can profit from modestly pricing their listings. “If you price for 2009 or even 2010 — in other words, for buyers who think prices might go down another 5 or 10 percent — there’s a really good shot that you will get rewarded for pricing it to value,” Gewirtz said.