Which Cities, Towns, and Neighborhoods have the most price reductions?

Let’s take a 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. The downloadable Excel file also includes charts showing the top ten cities/towns/neighborhoods with the least reduced-price listings.

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

Of the 56 cities/towns we ranked in the Sacramento area this month, just 6 had price-reduced ratios of twenty percent or more. This is a rather low percentage of price-reduced listings compared to our other markets around the country, where it is not uncommon to see a large percentage of the cities with price-reduced ratios over 40-50%.

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

Of the 29 neighborhoods we ranked in the Sacramento area this month, just 3 had a price-reduced ratio of twenty percent or more. Nine neighborhoods had reduced-price ratios under 10%, with Delhi in Merced County coming in at just 2.4%.

As we watch this set of statistics, it should give us a picture of whether the market is generally getting softer or hotter. The more sellers that have to reduce their prices in order to find buyers, the softer the market is, obviously.

Where are buyers getting the biggest discounts?

Let’s check in on some stats on the size of price reductions. How receptive are sellers to accepting an offer below their asking price?

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Where are buyers currently getting the biggest discount off the asking price in and around Sacramento? Knowing which neighborhoods are softer in terms of sale price discounts off list price will better equip you when making an offer.

In the charts below, we have taken all sales data from last month in the Sacramento area and sorted it by zip code. We calculated the overall difference between the sale price and the list price. Note that this reflects the final list price, after all price drops in the listing. Any areas with fewer than ten sales are excluded from the top and bottom ten rankings, but interested readers may download the full data summary in Excel format (xls).

For a quick look at where a given zip code is located, just type it into the Redfin search box, or drop by the handy USNaviguide.com zip code map.

Here are the top ten areas with the largest overall discount:

The overall discount rate for Sacramento came in at 1.7%, which is relatively low compared to other regions around the state and the nation that Redfin serves. Auburn (95603) took the top spot.

Here are the ten areas with the smallest discounts:

Of the 52 areas we ranked, just the seven shown above came in with average sale prices above the list price.

Is the area you’re shopping not on either the top 10 or bottom 10? No problem, just download the full rankings in Excel format and hit the “FullSummary” sheet.

Of the 2,358 sales we tracked in the 1-month period, 191 homes (8%) sold for 10% or more off the asking price, while 409 homes sold for 5% or more above the asking price.

We will be keeping an eye on this data every month to see which neighborhoods are trending toward larger discounts and which are trending toward selling at full price.

Buyers should be aware that not all neighborhoods are created equal. While an offer 10% below list price may have a good chance of being accepted in a few neighborhoods where buyers are few and far between, some areas in and around Sacramento are still seeing enough interest to command full price or more.