August 13, 2008
What I Learned About Price Reductions on Redfin
I’ve been playing around all morning with Redfin’s newest feature — the new neighborhood trends pages. For those of us following the harrowing twists of the housing market as if it were an Olympic Sport, there’s a lot to chew on. Not only can you see new listings, reduced listings and recently sold homes in one neat package, but there’s lots of market data too. Here’s what I’ve learned:
- In Brighton, there are 316 properties currently on the market — only two of those properties are foreclosures.
- Interestingly, even in this down (or at least flat) market, few house sellers are dramatically reducing prices. Only about 17 percent of houses underwent a price reduction in Brighton before they went off market, compared to almost half (47 percent) of condos.
- When condo owners dropped their prices, they didn’t drop much — a median of only 4.8 percent. House sellers were willing to give a little bit more — 12 percent.
- In Brookline, there were about 441 properties up for sale —none were foreclosures.
- About 28 percent of sellers with houses in Brookline reduced their prices, while 42 percent of condos dropped their prices.
- Again, price reductions in Brookline weren’t shockers. Sellers with houses cut prices a median of 5.3 percent, while condo owners lowered their prices by 4.4 percent.
- In both Brighton and Brookline, if you found something on the market for less than 90 days, it’s probably not worth holding out for a huge price reduction–it’s probably not coming. On the other hand, if a property has been sitting around on the market for four months, there’s an excellent chance of future price reductions, so bargain hard!
