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 177 cities/towns we ranked in the DC area this month, 95 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. The median price-reduced ratio was 50.2%.

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

Of the 74 neighborhoods we ranked this month, 23 had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. The median price-reduced ratio was 44.9%.

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 221 cities/towns we ranked in the greater DC area this month, 112 had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more.

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

Of the 85 neighborhoods we ranked in the greater DC area this month, 26 had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. On average, the neighborhoods with more price reductions had lower closed prices per square foot.

The general trend in greater DC looks to be heading slightly toward fewer price reductions, however every city and neighborhood is of course different.

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 229 cities/towns we ranked in the DC area this month, 167 (73%) had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. East Riverdale and Camp Springs held their #1 and #2 spots this week, way out ahead of the pack with three quarters or more homes leaving the market with price reductions in those neighborhoods.

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

Of the 123 neighborhoods we ranked in the DC area this month, 67 (54%) had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. Five of the top ten carried over from last month. These are the neighborhoods where you might want to look for sellers that are more anxious to sell.

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 228 cities/towns we ranked in the DC area this month, 176 (77%) had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Only Beltsville carried over from last month’s top ten to this month.

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

Of the 130 neighborhoods we ranked in DC area this month, 60 (46%) had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. On the neighborhood level, slightly more of the top ten list remained the same, with Hampden taking the top spot two months in a row.

At the neighborhood level, there is definitely some consistency in the number of homes seeing price reductions. 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 243 cities/towns we ranked in the DC Area this month, 203 (84%!) had price-reduced ratios of fifty percent or more. Only Langley Park has consistently been in the top ten for the last three months. It is also worth noting that the cutoff for the top ten moved up a few percentage points this month, from 69% last month to 71% this month, indicating that overall there seem to be more price reductions.

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

62 of the 148 neighborhoods we ranked in the DC Area had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. Congress Heights, Trinidad, and Trinidad / Arboretum / Ivy City 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.

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 242 cities/towns we ranked in the DC area, 77 had price-reduced ratios of over sixty percent, and 185 (over three quarters) came in with fifty percent or more. Langley Park, Bladensburg, and Forest Glen all made 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 DC area neighborhoods for price reductions:

51 of the 151 neighborhoods we ranked in the DC area had a price-reduced ratio of fifty percent or more. The neighborhoods of Canton, Congress Heights, Trinidad, and Trinidad / Arboretum / Ivy City all carried over from last month’s top ten as well.

On the neighborhood 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 Trinidad made this month’s top ten neighborhoods with the most price-reduced listings and the top ten fastest price reductions.

On average, neighborhoods where price reductions happen the fastest in the DC area seem to be those with higher prices in terms of price per square foot. The average median sold price per square foot of the top ten neighborhoods with the fastest price reductions was $387, while the ten neighborhoods with the slowest price reductions had an average median sold price of just $117 per square foot. So don’t assume that just because sellers in a particular neighborhood are reducing their prices quickly, you can find great deals there.

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 241 cities/towns we ranked in the DC area, 51 had a price-reduced ratio of over sixty percent, while 146 had fifty percent or more. Coming in at a surprisingly high 78%, Forest Glen had the largest percent of homes taken off the market that experienced price reductions. For comparison, just 44% of homes taken off the market in the District of Columbia had price reductions. Most of the cities/towns in the top ten are north and east of DC in Maryland, with Aquia Harbour being the only place in Virginia to make the cut.

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

West Virginia makes an appearance on the least price-reduced list, as neighboring Charles Town and the Corporation of Ranson come in at #2 and #6, respectively. Over in the center of the Delmarva Peninsula, home sellers in Salisbury were by far the least willing to drop their prices.

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

Six of the top ten neighborhoods for price-reductions were in Baltimore. Of the 154 neighborhoods we ranked in Redfin’s DC service area, 44 had a price-reduced ratio of over fifty percent.

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

The District of Columbia dominated the least price-reduced list, taking five of the top ten spots.

Interestingly, while none of the top ten neighborhoods with the most price-reductions had a median closed house price greater than $300,000, six out of the top ten least price-reduced neighborhoods had median house prices in excess of $500,000. It would seem that the more ritzy the neighborhood, the less likely it is that sellers will reduce their asking prices.