January City/Neighborhood Price Reductions

Let’s take our monthly look at which cities and towns have the most price reductions.

The following charts show the percent of MLS, FSBO or REO listings that were price-reduced at some point before leaving the market (either sold or removed unsold from the market) in the past 90 days. Cities/towns or neighborhoods in which the number of homes taken off the market was too small to provide believable estimates are excluded from ranking.

For those that are interested, I have uploaded the full data set in Excel format here (saved in Excel 97-2003 .xls format by request). In order to keep from overwhelming you with charts, I am leaving out the top ten cities/towns/neighborhoods with the least reduced-price listings from the post, but you can still see that chart in the downloaded file.

First up are the top ten cities with the most price-reduced listings:

Of the 242 cities/towns we ranked in the Chicago Area this month, 110 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Orland Hills slipped from the #1 spot last month to #2 this month, with last month’s #3 North Barrington jumping up to #1. A total of five cities from last month’s top ten carried into this month.

Getting a little more granular, let’s look at the top ten Chicago Area neighborhoods for price reductions:

Just 17 of the 102 neighborhoods we ranked in the Chicago Area had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more, which is slightly more than last month’s 10. Only four neighborhoods carried over from last month’s top ten. Garfield Ridge, Roscoe Village, Pilsen / Lower West Side, and West Side have all made the top ten for three months in a row.

For home buyers, cities and neighborhoods that consistently remain near the top of the list for price reductions may be a good place to potentially hunt for bargains. Once a home has been on the market a while, many buyers tend to overlook it, even though a price reduction or two may have brought it into a more desirable price range.