If a listing drops in price, it drops a lot

VERO BEACH, Fla. – Oct. 12, 2009 – Only one Florida city, Jacksonville, made a top 10 list of areas in which a large number of homeowners have cut asking prices. But if an owner is willing to cut the price, he’s willing to knock a lot off in the Sunshine State. Of the top 10 cities for significant price cuts, only two were outside Florida.

Real estate Web sites Zillow and Trulia continue to see price cuts by home sellers in apparent efforts to attract buyers during a slower part of the year for house sales.

The listing prices of more than 25 percent of homes on the market Oct. 1 have been reduced, according to Trulia.com. In all, sellers with listings on Trulia.com have cut asking prices about $1 billion since June.

Trulia CEO Pete Flint says home sellers are facing a season of the year when home sales are typically slow, and they hope that a price reduction will move the property.

In a statement accompanying the release, Flint said: “We are seeing the beginning of this trend in the Northeast and Western United States with discounting happening at all price points, and expect it to continue.”

The 10 housing markets on Trulia.com with the highest percentage of listings that have reduced their prices in October:

 1. Memphis, Tenn.: 36 percent
 2. Minneapolis: 36 percent
 3. Portland, Ore.: 36 percent
 4. Indianapolis: 36 percent
 5. Baltimore: 36 percent
 6. Milwaukee: 35 percent
 7. Jacksonville, Fla.: 35 percent
 8. Tucson, Ariz.: 34 percent
 9. Raleigh, N.C.: 33 percent
 10. Boston, Mass., 33 percent

Meanwhile, a new study from Zillow.com shows U.S. home buyers generally inching closer to the asking price when they buy real estate. Buyers paid a median 3 percent ($6,525) less than the last listing price when they bought a home in August, down from 3.3 percent ($7,018) less for homes bought in July.

Buyer power peaked in January 2009, when buyers paid 4.5 percent less than the last listing price, a median of $10,096.

Buyers continued to cut prices with 24.7 percent of all homes listed for sale on Zillow.com undergoing at least one listing price reduction from the original price – a median of 6.6 percent – as of Oct. 1, 2009.

Markets where home sellers dropped prices the most compared to the last listing price were:

 1. Vero Beach: 8.9 percent
 2. Naples: 8 percent
 3. Sarasota: 7.9 percent
 4. Panama City: 7.6 percent
 5. Daytona Beach: 7.3 percent
 6. Atlantic City, N.J., 7.2 percent
 7. Miami-Fort Lauderdale: 7 percent
 8. Morristown, Tenn: 6.9 percent
 9. Ocala: 6.5 percent
 10. Lakeland: 6.4 percent

Source: U.S. News & World Report, Luke Mullins, and Zillow.com (10/08/2009)

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