More homes for sale have price reductions, but the cuts aren't much

The share of homes for sale listed with a price cut hit its highest level since 2014, but the reductions themselves are shrinking, according to Trulia.

About 17.2% of house listings had at least one price cut in August, up from 16.7% a year ago. While this may seem like a good sign for homebuyers, the median price reduction only knocked 2.6% off a listing price. This figure has been steadily falling since 2012, when it was 4%.

Local housing markets experienced varying results, with some seeing price reductions for up to 26.4% of homes, like in San Diego, and others having reductions for only 14%, such as in Pittsburgh.

Home price listings

San Francisco and Detroit experienced the highest median reduction amount, with listing prices tanking 4.6% and 4.1%, respectively. In contrast, property values in San Antonio were only cut 1.3%, the smallest amount of all cities.

"Buyers should be encouraged by the signals we're seeing in the market. But not all buyers will benefit equally, and it pays to do research on your preferred neighborhood," Felipe Chacon, Trulia's housing economist, said in a press release.

"Price reductions typically aren't uniformly spread out across a given city — some neighborhoods might have a lot of listings with a reduced price, others may have none. Our research shows that price cuts are much more prevalent in higher-cost neighborhoods, so budget-conscious buyers may have some trouble finding a bargain," he added.

Of the nation's top 100 metropolitan areas, 63 had a higher share of property listings with price cuts in August compared to the same period last year.

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