Nationwide, the share of homes for sale that underwent price drops reached a record high in July. More than 15% of home sellers dropped their asking price in the 97 largest U.S. metropolitan areas, according to a report from Redfin released on Monday.
The pandemic homebuying hotspot of Boise, Idaho had the highest share of homes with price drops in July at 69.7%, up from 29.6% a year ago. In July 2021, Fresno, California had the highest share of price drops at 37.9%.
Denver (58%), Salt Lake City (56.4%), Tacoma, Washington (54.8%), Tampa, Florida (52.1%), Sacramento, California (52%), Indianapolis (51.4%), Phoenix (50.1%), San Diego (49.7%) and Portland, Oregon (48.3%) rounded out the top 10 for July 2022.
This is the second consecutive month, that Boise, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Tacoma were among the top 10. In addition, Boise, Denver, Tacoma, Sacramento, Phoenix, San Diego and Portland are among the 20 housing markets that cooled fastest in the first half of the year.
Overall, the median share of homes with price drops was 32.3% in July, with the share of homes with a price drop increasing year over year in all but three metro areas: Lake County, Illinois (22.3% compared to 28.2%), Elgin, Illinois (22% compared to 27.3%), and Chicago (21.3% compared to 26.4%).
“Individual home sellers and builders were both quick to drop their prices early this summer, mostly because they had unrealistic expectations of both price and timelines. They priced too high because their neighbor’s home sold for an exorbitant price a few months ago, and expected to receive multiple offers the first weekend because they heard stories about that happening,” Shauna Pendelton, a Boise-based Redfin agent, said in a statement.
Redfin attributes the rise in price drops to increasing mortgage rates hampering buyers purchase power, cooling buyer demand and an increase of inventory ramping up competition among home sellers. However, Redfin nots that the number of price drops will eventually flatten as home sellers adjust to the cooler market conditions and fewer home sellers chose to list their homes, curbing inventory growth.
On the other end of the spectrum, McAllen, Texas had lowest share of price drops at 15.7%, followed by Newark, New Jersey (15.8%), Miami (18.5%), Honolulu (18.5%) and Bridgeport, Connecticut (18.8%).
“My advice to sellers is to price their home correctly from the start, accept that the market has slowed and understand that it may take longer than 30 days to sell,” Pendelton said. “If someone is selling a nice home in a desirable neighborhood, they shouldn’t need to drop their price.”
