Fewer Home Sellers Cut Asking Prices for Homes in January 2010

Just over 40% of available homes for sale had reduced prices in January 2010, compared with 44% in December 2009, according to a monthly survey of home listings in 27 markets conducted by the national real estate brokerage ZipRealty.

With fewer reduced price homes available in January, sellers were able to ask for their original list prices, rather than cut them to attract buyers.

“Sellers are taking a realistic look at current market conditions before listing their homes,” said ZipRealty CEO Pat Lashinsky. “We have a lot fewer homes for sale right now than we did last year, and we are seeing more sellers sticking to their original list prices, rather than cutting them to try to attract buyers.”

Highlights of ZipRealty’s monthly survey include:

-January was the fifth consecutive month of fewer priced reduced homes on the market, with sellers reducing list prices by $21,925 on average across 27 markets
-Homeowners in San Diego reduced prices by the highest dollar amount, cutting an average of $44,901
-Homeowners in Houston reduced prices by the lowest dollar amount, cutting an average of $10,000
-Markets with the lowest percentage of price-reduced MLS-listed homes were Los Angeles and San Diego (both at 32.6%), San Francisco (31.9%), and Denver (29.5%)
-One out of every two home listings in Jacksonville (49.9%) and Phoenix (48.8%) had cut their list prices, the highest percentage in the survey

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