City/Town/Neighborhood December Price Reduction Update

Let’s take another 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. 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 41 cities/towns we ranked in Orange County this month, 20 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Much of this month’s top ten list is the same as last month’s, with the notable exception of the Las Flores dropping from the number one spot to completely off the list, and a new contender Portola Hills jumping into #1.

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

28 of the 51 neighborhoods we ranked in Orange County had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. Huntington Beach neighborhoods still dominate the top ten list, with consistent price reductions continuing to take place.

On the neighborhood level (but not at the city/town level), there is a slight tendency for neighborhoods with higher listing prices (per square foot) to have a larger share of reduced-price listings. If you’re looking for sellers that might be more willing to negotiate a lower price, these would be the places to look.