SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Housing prices in the San Diego region, and in many cities across the U.S., dropped in August -- a possible sign that a shift to a buyer’s market is underway.
A new report published by real estate company Trulia shows the number of home listings in the U.S. with a price cut increased to its highest level since 2014.
Trulia’s analysis shows the number of housing listings with a price cut jumped in July and August 2018. With that development, the slowing of home price growth and housing inventory levels rising in some parts of the country, Trulia says it might be a time to buy.
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Trulia Housing Economist Felipe Chacon said, “Buyers should be encouraged by the signals we’re seeing in the market. But not all buyers will benefit equally, and it pays to do research on your preferred neighborhood. Price reductions typically aren’t uniformly spread out across a given city -- some neighborhoods might have a lot of listings with a reduced price, others may have none. Our research shows that price cuts are much more prevalent in higher-cost neighborhoods, so budget-conscious buyers may have some trouble finding a bargain.”
San Diego, according to Trulia’s report, had the fifth-largest increase among U.S. metropolitan areas in the number of housing listings with a price cut. The San Diego region saw 26.4 percent of home listings with a price reduction in August 2018 -- a 5.4 percent increase from August 2017.
The median home value in the San Diego region is $592,325 as of August 2018, which is up 6.1 percent from the same timeframe last year.
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While housing prices dropping in some parts of the country, the actual price reductions are also shrinking. According to Trulia’s analysis, "For the 12 months ending August 2018, the median price reduction nationwide knocked 2.6 percent off the listing price. This has been declining steadily since 2012, when the median price reduction was 4 percent. The median value of a price reduction today is less than the median price reduction at the outset of the recovery in 97 of the 100 largest metros analyzed.”