September City/Neighborhood Price Reductions

It’s been a while since we had 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 95 cities/towns we ranked in the greater Seattle area this month, 61 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. The median price-reduced ratio was 52.1%.

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

Of the 109 neighborhoods we ranked this month, 47 had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. The median price-reduced ratio was 47.7%.

Download the full spreadsheet to check where your neighborhood came in.

June 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. 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 134 cities/towns we ranked in the greater Seattle area this month, 81 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more.

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

Of the 104 neighborhoods we ranked in the greater Seattle area this month, 45 had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. On average, the neighborhoods with more price reductions had noticably higher median closed prices than those with fewer price reductions.

The general price reduction trend in the greater Seattle area looks to be generally holding steady, however every city and neighborhood is of course different. Some may be getting softer while others get tighter. Download the full spreadsheet to check where your neighborhood came in.

March 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. 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 131 cities/towns we ranked in the Seattle area this month, 94 (72%) had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Such a large percentage would seem to indicate that most sellers around Seattle are still having trouble correctly gauging the market price of their home before putting it on the market.

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

Of the 100 neighborhoods we ranked in the Seattle area this month, 46 (46%) had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. Three different Tacoma neighborhoods popped up in the top ten again, along with repeat appearances from Sammamish, Hillsdale, and Education Hill.

We’re still seeing a degree of consistency in which neighborhoods and cities have the most price reductions. Are sellers in these locations just not very good at finding the right market price in the first place, or are they so anxious to sell that they drop the price early and often? Either way, the regions with the really high percentage of reduced-price homes are probably a good place to go bargain-hunting.

February 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. 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 128 cities/towns we ranked in the Seattle area this month, 95 (74%) had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Moving up from #2 last month to #1 this month, the town of Brier not only wins the distinction of having the greatest percentage of price-reduced listings in the Seattle area, but also managed to have the largest percentage of any city in all eight markets Redfin serves (by a full 5 percentage points). Um, congratulations?

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

Of the 104 neighborhoods we ranked in the Seattle area this month, 51 (49%) had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. Only #1-ranked Fauntleroy carried over from last month’s top ten to this month.

There is definitely some consistency in the number of homes seeing price reductions month to month in the cities and neighborhoods around the Seattle area. If finding a good deal on a home is important to you, these neighborhoods might be a good place to start, as higher ratios of reduced-price homes indicate sellers that need to sell and are willing to lower the price to do so.

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 139 cities/towns we ranked in the Seattle area this month, 102 (73%) had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Only East Renton Highlands made the top ten for each of the last three months.

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

83 of the 122 (68%) neighborhoods we ranked in Seattle area had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. On the neighborhood level, only Cascade View made the top ten list 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.

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 141 cities/towns we ranked in the Seattle area this month, 100 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Bremerton, Navy Yard City, and East Renton Highlands were the only cities/towns to make the top ten last month and this month, with a consistently high volume of price reductions.

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

88 of the 134 neighborhoods we ranked in the Seattle area had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. Northwest Everett held its place at the top of the list, while Newport Hills and Cascade View carried over from last month’s top ten as well.

On the neighborhood level (but not at the city/town level), there is a slight tendency for neighborhoods with lower 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.

Which Neighborhoods Have the Fastest Price Reductions?

Here’s a fun set of data. Redfin data engineers have dug deep into our market databases to find out which neighborhoods have the fastest price reductions.

For listings with more than one price drop, we calculated the time between each price drop. Then, for each neighborhood, we calculated the median average number of days between successive price drops for listings. Neighborhoods with fewer than 20 reduced-price listings were excluded from the calculation.

Here’s a chart of the top ten neighborhoods with the fastest price reductions:

For those readers that are interested to know which neighborhoods had the slowest price drops, feel free to download the full data set in Excel 2007 format.

Only Northwest Everett made this month’s top ten neighborhoods with the most price-reduced listings and the fastest price reductions.

On average, neighborhoods where price reductions happen the fastest seem to be those with lower prices, both in terms of overall median and per square foot. The average median sold price per square foot of the top ten neighborhoods with the fastest price reductions was $245, while the ten neighborhoods with the slowest price reductions had an average median sold price of $334 per square foot.

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

Today Redfin is launching the new Sweet Digs, Analytical Edition. We’re proud to introduce Tim Ellis as the curator of this new effort. Tim will bring the same independent, data-driven perspective to Sweet Digs that first established him as a pre-eminent real estate blogger, but with pricing data that only a broker—and sometimes only Redfin—can access. He will be joined by other bloggers providing real-time insights on how contracts are being negotiated in neighborhoods around the area.

Sweet Digs is still a work in progress so if you have ideas about the types of posts you’d like to see — or if you’d like to contribute an analytical post of your own — just drop me (glenn at redfin dot com) or Tim (the_tim at thatchmound dot com) a line or leave a comment below. Thanks for all your support, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Regards, Glenn Kelman, CEO Redfin

I’d like to thank Glenn and the good people at Redfin for giving me the opportunity to delve into real estate data and share insights with readers from around the country. To kick things off, 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.

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

Of the 146 cities/towns we ranked in the Seattle / NW Washington area, 16 had price-reduced ratios of over sixty percent, and 79 (just over half) came in with fifty percent or more. South King County had the strongest showing on the most-reduced list, taking four of the top ten spots.

Here are the top ten cities with the least price-reduced listings:

Interestingly, the cities with the fewest price reductions are quite a ways out of town. Way up north in Blaine, over the mountains in Moses Lake, east on the peninsula in Port Townsend, and south in Long Beach.

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

50 of the 144 neighborhoods we ranked in the Seattle area had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. The top two neighborhoods couldn’t be much more different from each other, with relatively-modestly-priced Northwest Everett and the suburban eastside Somerset both seeing over 70% of homes reduce prices before coming off the market.

Lastly, let’s take a look at which neighborhoods had the least price-reduced listings taken off the market:

Wow, what is going on in north Everett? We’ve got Northwest Everett topping the list of the most price reductions at 74%, then right next door in the Delta neighborhood, only 33% of homes saw price reductions. Weird.

Outside of Delta and Happy Valley way up in Whatcom, all the remaining neighborhoods on the top ten least reduced list are in King County, with many of the strongest neighborhoods (not surprisingly) clustered right around downtown Seattle.