During the four-week period ending Sept. 16, nearly 27 percent of home sellers reduced their listing price by at least 1 percent, according to an analysis by Redfin.
Redfin said the 26.6 percent of home sellers who reduced their price during that period is the highest level on record since it began tracking the metric in 2010.
“After years of strong price growth and intense competition for homes, buyers are taking advantage of the market’s easing pressure by being selective about which homes to offer on and how high to bid,” Redfin Senior Economist Taylor Marr said in a release.
“But there are some early signs of a softening market, and the increase in price drops may be another indicator that sellers are going to have trouble getting the prices, and the bidding wars, that they may have just months ago,” Marr added. “Instead, many are finding their homes are sitting on the market without much interest until they start reducing their prices.”
According to Redfin’s analysis, the share of home sellers who dropped their price increased 4.8 percent from the same period a year earlier, when 21.7 percent of homes had a price drop. Redfin said the share of homes with price drops has posted year-over-year gains consistently since late March.
The metropolitan statistical areas with the biggest year-over-year increases in the share of homes with price drops during the period were Las Vegas (+12.3 points to 28.1 percent); San Jose, Calif. (+10.7 pts to 25.7 percent); Seattle (+10.1 pts to 37.1 percent); and Atlanta (+9.0 pts to 27.9 percent).
“In a market where we’re seeing more inventory, sellers may choose to use price reductions to continue to generate interest in their home for sale,” said Jessie Culbert, a Redfin agent in Seattle. “Ultimately, the market dictates the appropriate price for any given home. We use data and on-the-ground insight to recommend the initial price, but sometimes we just need more exposure to the market, or more time to hear feedback, and then we'll work with our clients to adjust the price accordingly.”