Around the country, home buyers are facing escalating prices as they compete for a limited number of homes for sale. But there are exceptions popping up in some markets. In a few metro areas, buyers are seeing the reverse: prices coming down.
Realtor.com® researchers found that 27 of the nation’s 350 largest metros are seeing price drops. In those 27 markets, the reason for the decline in prices was generally attributed to overbuilding; layoffs or company closings from oil-related downturns to the economy; or a recent natural disaster.
“An act of God can stall a region’s housing market, something you can’t predict well: mudslides, wildfires, hurricanes,” says Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM Data Solutions, a real estate research firm. “Weakness in the regional or local economy can ripple out into the housing market as well. Given the fundamentals of the housing business, the silver lining here is this is an opportunity for buyers who have been locked out.”
Realtor.com® identified metros where prices are falling by comparing two years of median list prices in the 250 largest metros. Researchers compared the 12-month period of May 2016 to April 2017 with May 2017 to April 2018. The following are realtor.com®’s rankings of the metros that saw the largest price cuts in that time:
1. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, Calif.
- Median home list price: $951,600
- Price drop: -17.7%
2. Pottsville, Pa.
- Median home list price: $72,300
- Price drop: -8.1%
3. Napa, Calif.
- Median home list price: $823,900
- Price drop: -6.7%
4. Austin, Texas
- Median home list price: $373,000
- Price drop: -4.3%
5. Beckley, W.Va.
- Median home list price: $134,000
- Price drop: -4.2%
6. College Station, Texas
- Median home list price: $301,700
- Price drop: -3.6%
7. Corpus Christi, Texas
- Median home list price: $237,600
- Price drop: -3.1%
Source: “Home Prices Aren’t Soaring Everywhere: These Are the 10 Metros Where They’re Falling the Most,” realtor.com® (May 29, 2018)
