Idaho had the second highest average reduction in prices across the nation, as homeowners cut their asking prices across the nation in hopes of a sell.
According to the news service Bloomberg, U.S. homeowners cut their asking prices by $27.8 billion with some of the biggest reductions in Nevada and Florida, states hardest hit by the property slump, Trulia Inc. said.
Owners slashed prices by 15 percent in Nevada and by 13 percent in Florida and Arizona in the year through Aug. 1, the San Francisco-based real estate data provider said today. A quarter of home sellers lowered prices at least once, by an average of 10 percent.
“Sellers are resetting their expectations in line with falling prices,” Pete Flint, Trulia’s chief executive officer, said in an interview. “We’re still clearly in a downturn even though we’re coming out of it.”
The median U.S. price of an existing single-family house dropped a record 15.6 percent to $174,100 in the second quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors, whose figures date to 1979. Sales increased 11 percent for new homes and 3.6 percent for existing homes, Commerce Department and Realtors data show, as buyers took advantage of discounts.
Idaho had the second-biggest average reduction at 14 percent, while prices were trimmed 13 percent in Hawaii.
The combined value of reductions was $27.1 billion in the year through July 1, Trulia said in its previous monthly report.
Sellers of higher-priced properties in states that haven’t been hard-hit during the housing recession may be “catching up with the rest of the country,” Flint said.
Eric Allen, director of Metrostudy’s Utah/Idaho region, said the dynamics of the new-home market are intertwined with that of the resale market, and the resale market is receiving the vast majority of consumers’ attention.
As of June, year-to-date sales for Ada and Canyon counties through the local IMLS (Intermountain Multiple Listing Service) accounted for 2,707 resale homes, a 1 percent increase compared to the previous year’s pace. Sales of resale homes have increased each month since the first of the year and the sales pace of 670 homes in June 2009 outpaced June 2008 by 133 homes. The most recent volume appears to be driven primarily by bank-owned (REO and foreclosure) homes, especially at the lower end of the price scale.
Attractive pricing, first-time homebuyer incentives and record-low mortgage rates are fueling a strong rally for lower-priced homes in the resale market. According to the IMLS, the average price for a resale home in Ada County is $199,444, which is 20 percent less than in June 2008. The average price in Canyon County is $128,133, a 21 percent decrease compared to last year at this time.
Trulia Inc. collects data from brokers and agents, third- party providers and multiple-listing services. The closely held company’s database includes 3.5 million properties.
Trulia excluded undeveloped land as well as foreclosed properties from the survey. It looked at all homes for sale that were listed on the company’s Web site since Aug. 1, 2008. Some prices were lowered more than once.
Metrostudy is the leading provider of primary and secondary market information to the housing industry and related industries nationwide.
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