Press releases

Buyers in the Driver's Seat: U.S. Homebuyers Paid $7,039 Less Than Listing Price in July

Florida Markets Make Up 14 of Top 25 Markets Where Buyers Can Negotiate, According to July Zillow® Real Estate Market Reports

Sep 10, 2009

 

 

 

SEATTLE, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Amid continued falling home prices, U.S. homebuyers are negotiating even more discounts at the bargaining table, according to July's Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. Buyers paid 3.3 percent, or a nearly $7,039, less than the last listing price on homes for sale(1) during the month of July. That is down slightly from 3.5 percent, or $7,630, in June, and substantially down from 4.6 percent ($10,260) in January.

 

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060503/ZILLOWLOGO)

 

Meanwhile, 22.8 percent of all homes listed for sale on Zillow had at least one listing price reduction(2) as of Sept. 1, 2009. The median U.S. price reduction(3) was 6.5 percent off the original listing price. Homes listed for sale on Zillow during August were listed for a median 96 days(4), up from 91 in July.

 

Florida homebuyers had the most negotiating power in July, with buyers in the Vero Beach metropolitan statistical area (MSA) paying 10.2 percent, or a median $23,500, less than the last listing price. Buyers in the Sarasota MSA paid 8.2 percent less than list price. The Naples, Daytona Beach, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Panama City, Punta Gorda, Melbourne, Ocala, Tampa, Jacksonville, Port St. Lucie, Gainesville and Lakeland MSAs also ranked, in that order, in the top 25 markets for negotiation.

 

There was less or no room for negotiation in some California markets that have been hard-hit by foreclosures. In the El Centro MSA, buyers paid 1.8 percent, or a median of $2,150, more than the listing price. In seven California markets -- Sacramento, Merced, Modesto, Riverside, Stockton, Yuba City and Fresno -- asking price and sale price were the same(5).

 

"The strong summer selling season in 2009 has led to a decreasing difference between the last listing price and final sale price, but most buyers are still getting some additional discount at selling time," said Zillow Chief Economist Dr. Stan Humphries. "We expected list-to-sale price ratios to fall as the sales volume picked up during the summer, and the California markets are showing strong declines in the discount off the last listing price, relative to levels at the start of the year. This is fueled both by increased sales and high proportion of foreclosures re-sales, which are already priced relatively low.

 

"The fact that many Florida markets are still showing comparatively higher differences between the last listing price and final sale price suggests that inventory levels are still relatively high, keeping considerable downward pressure on prices and encouraging buyers to seek large discounts off the listing price. Overall, buyers are finding favorable conditions for negotiating prices, and now can be a good time to buy, provided homebuyers are financially prepared with healthy down payments and intend to stay in their home for a minimum of five to seven years."

 

Top 25 Markets for Negotiating Discounts (ranked by percent difference from last list price to final sale)

 

 

                                                              Zillow
                   Median %   Median $                         Home
                 Difference  Difference                        Value
                    from        from      % of                 Index  Median
                    Last        List     For Sale              Year-   Days
                 List Price    Price    Listings    Median %   Over-  Listed
    Metropolitan  to Final    to Final  with Price  of Price   Year     on
    Statistical     Sale       Sale    Reductions  Reduction  Change  Zillow
    Area             (1)        (1)        (2)                  (6)    (4)

    United States   3.3%      $7,039      22.8%      6.5%     -9.9%    96

    Vero Beach,
     Fla.          10.2%     $23,500      17.5%      9.1%    -11.6%   106

    Sarasota, Fla.  8.2%     $20,392      19.9%      8.3%    -17.5%    96

    Atlantic City,
     N.J.             8%     $23,082      21.4%      6.9%     -7.4%    94

    Naples, Fla.    7.8%     $27,233      21.1%      9.8%    -21.2%   100

    Daytona Beach,
     Fla.           7.5%     $14,246      23.8%      9.2%    -22.3%   129

    Miami-
     Ft. Lauderdale,
     Fla.           7.5%     $18,658      18.7%     11.4%    -20.7%   109

    Panama City,
     Fla.           7.1%     $17,617      19.8%      9.8%    -10.3%   135

    Punta Gorda,
     Fla.             7%     $11,677        16%     10.5%    -14.3%   145

    Melbourne, Fla. 6.6%     $11,839      20.9%      8.5%    -18.3%   125

    Detroit, Mich.  6.5%      $7,777      29.1%     10.7%      -24%    69

    Ocala, Fla.     6.4%      $8,960      21.2%     10.5%    -12.2%    74

    Springfield,
     Ohio           6.4%      $6,231      21.8%        8%     -1.8%   101

    Prescott, Ariz. 6.4%     $15,919      28.6%      8.7%    -19.3%   120

    Morristown,
     Tenn.          6.3%     $11,233      18.9%      6.3%    -15.9%   143

    Toledo, Ohio    6.1%      $7,315      24.8%      7.7%     -7.1%   109

    Tampa, Fla.     6.1%     $10,948      22.8%        9%    -19.8%   106

    Jacksonville,
     Fla.             6%     $12,313        29%      7.9%      -13%   111

    Stamford,
     Conn.          5.9%     $32,099      26.5%      5.8%    -10.4%   110

    Port St. Lucie,
     Fla.           5.7%     $10,289      19.5%       10%    -24.5%   124

    Grand Rapids,
     Mich.          5.6%      $6,879        24%        8%    -10.8%   101

    Chicago, Ill.   5.5%     $13,453      29.4%        6%      -13%   108

    Gainesville,
     Fla.           5.5%      $9,868      22.1%      6.7%     -8.7%   130

    Lakeland, Fla.  5.5%      $8,757      17.3%      9.4%    -23.4%   111

    New York, N.Y.  5.4%     $21,785        25%      5.9%     -9.7%   110

    Cleveland,
     Ohio           5.4%      $7,424      25.4%      6.7%     -5.3%    86

 

 

The full national report for 161 MSAs, in its new, interactive format, is available at www.zillow.com/local-info, or by emailing press@zillow.com. Additionally, in most areas data is available at the state, metro, county, city, ZIP and neighborhood level.

 

About Zillow.com®

Zillow.com is an online real estate marketplace where homeowners, buyers, sellers, real estate agents and mortgage professionals find and share vital information about homes and mortgages, for free. Launched in early 2006 with Zestimate® home values and data on millions of U.S. homes, Zillow has since added homes for sale, a directory of real estate and lending professionals, Zillow Advice and Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. One of the most-visited U.S. real estate Web sites, with more than eight million unique visitors per month, Zillow's goal is to help people become smarter about real estate in every stage of the home ownership process -- home buying, selling, remodeling and financing. The company is headquartered in Seattle and has raised $87 million in funding.

 

Zillow.com, Zillow and Zestimate are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc.

 

  1. List-to-sale price ratio is the median between the most previous list price and the final sale price of the home for all Zillow listings in a given geography. Foreclosed homes are included if they were listed as for-sale on Zillow prior to the foreclosure. The dollar amount is the median price of all listings on Zillow during a month multiplied by the inverse of the list-to-sale price ratio (sale-to-list price ratio). List-to-sale price ratio is calculated for July.
  2. Listings with price reduction are the percent of for-sale listings on Zillow that, during August, had a reduced listing price compared with the maximum listing price of the preceding three months.
  3. The median percent of price reduction measures the median amount of all price reductions in the listing price of for-sale homes that had a reduced price during August, compared with the maximum list price in the last three months.
  4. "Days listed on Zillow" is measured as the median number of days for-sale homes are listed. To be included in this data point, a home must have been listed for sale on Zillow for at least one day during the reporting period (August).
  5. "Same" means +/-1%.
  6. The Zillow Home Value Index is the median estimated value (Zestimate) of all homes in an area. This measures the change of the Zillow Home Value Index from July 2008 to July 2009.

 

 

 

SOURCE Zillow.com

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