More price reductions on Baltimore homes
More than one-third of Baltimore homes for sale have had at least one asking-price reduction over the past year, putting the city behind only Minneapolis and Milwaukee for the share of sellers decreasing their expectations, real estate search site Trulia.com says.
Trulia, looking at the market on May 1, found that 35 percent of the Baltimore homes for sale were not priced as high as they had been earlier. That's up from 29 percent on April 1, which could reflect last-minute cuts in hopes of interesting a buyer before the $8,000 and $6,500 home buyer tax credits expired April 30.
Baltimore's month-over-month increase in asking-price decreases -- ya follow? -- was ninth-largest in the country, Trulia said. The company ranked the 50 most populous cities and did not include foreclosures.
"With more than a year of the federal government's involvement, we are now re-entering the free market system. As we readjust to the free market, we expect to hit turbulence in some markets," Trulia CEO Pete Flint said in a statement. "We won't know the true severity of the tax credit expiration until the conclusion of the peak home buying season in the summer months. Only then will we have a better sense if the U.S. housing market can stand on its own two feet."
Here are the five cities with the biggest share of asking-price drops:
1. Minneapolis -- 40 percent of homes had asking-price reductions (average reduction: 8 percent)
2. Milwaukee -- 37 percent of homes had asking-price reductions (average reduction: 9 percent)
3. Baltimore -- 35 percent of homes had asking-price reductions (average reduction: 11 percent)
4. Phoenix, Ariz. -- 33 percent of homes had asking-price reductions (average reduction: 13 percent)
5. Dallas -- 32 percent of homes had asking-price reductions (average reduction: 9 percent)
The nationwide picture: 22 percent of homes with reductions, and a 10 percent drop on average, Trulia said.
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