With 10 months of inventory sitting on the seller’s block, the national housing market isn’t bouncing back, according to Trulia Inc.
The San Francisco business said sellers continue to cut the prices of homes on the market all over the country. The western and southwestern states are hardest hit, particularly California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
Trulia tracks how many homes listed for sale in a city have had their price reduced while waiting for a buyer.
Though Minneapolis is still No. 1 on Trulia’s list of the 50 biggest U.S. cities (44 percent of its listed homes have had their asking price dropped by an average of 12 percent, or $31,500), it’s still at near the same level as a year ago (40 percent then).
Some places, like Fresno and the former housing boomtowns of Phoenix and Mesa in Arizona, have seen enormous year-over-year changes. A year ago, Fresno had a 12 percent score on Trulia’s list, but that more than doubled in a year, and now 26 percent of Fresno’s listed homes have been lowered in price. The average price cut in Fresno has been 12 percent, or $24,587.
Mesa and Phoenix both had a 28 percent score a year ago, but this month they hit 43 percent and 42 percent, respectively.
Locally, San Francisco and Oakland both stayed flat from December to December. In San Francisco, 29 percent of listed homes have been cut in price. The average drop is 9 percent, or $97,850.
Across the bay in Oakland, 25 percent of listed homes are cheaper than when first listed. The average cut there is 11 percent, or $48,598.
Omaha’s doing the best of the top 50 cities, with just 18 percent of its listed homes reduced in price.
Pete Flint, who started Trulia and is its CEO, said job creation is the most important factor that will drive a recovery in residential real estate. Because unemployment is still persistently high, at 9.8 percent, he doesn’t expect home prices to go up in the first half of next year. Indeed, he thinks they’ll drop 5 percent to 7 percent.
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