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- Sellers are reducing prices in cities with surplus housing inventory, according to Redfin data.
- Cities in Florida and Texas saw some of the highest shares of price drops.
- As sellers lower prices and builders offer concessions, homebuyers are gaining more power.
Feeling discouraged about buying a home this year? This may cheer you up.
The pandemic housing boom is yesterday's news, along with the intense buying competition it fueled, subdued by a relentless increase in mortgage rates. It means two things for prospective homebuyers: First, more sellers are likely to slash listing prices to attract buyers. Second, buyers now hold an advantage over sellers.
In states such as Florida and Texas, where an influx of buyers seeking relatively affordable homes and larger living spaces has led to more new home construction than anywhere else in the US, several metros in March saw the highest shares of price drops and the softest median sale-price growth compared with elsewhere in the country, according to a new report from Redfin.
Eric Auciello, a Redfin sales manager from Florida, said the price cuts were partly a result of home sellers facing stiff competition from home builders who were offering concessions — such as money for home repairs or mortgage-rate buydowns — to sweeten their deals.
"My advice to sellers is to price your home fairly; the comps from six months ago don't exist now," Auciello said in the Redfin report. "And if you're a buyer, know that the odds of getting an offer accepted below market value are pretty high."
With builders and sellers competing for buyers' attention by offering concessions and slashing prices, there's a growing possibility that homebuyers previously unable to afford a home may now have an opportunity to purchase one this year — and it may already be happening. According to Census Bureau data, new home sales for March 2024 were at 693,000, which is 8.8% above the revised February rate, and 8.3% above the March 2023 estimate.
To calculate which metros have the highest share of sellers reducing list prices, Redfin analyzed home-price data from 85 US metros with populations of at least 750,000.
Notably, not all of these metros have experienced median sale-price declines; instead, many have observed a softening in price growth. Below are the 10 metros with the largest share of price drops in March, according to Redfin — with a three-way tie to start us off.
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