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In a fresh sign of a budding buyers’ market, every major metropolitan area in the U.S. saw a greater share of homes sell at a discount in August than a year ago — and most saw their percentage of sales going above ask shrink.
One market stood out in particular for both metrics: Washington, D.C.
In the nation’s capital, a quarter of homes sold with price cuts in August. That’s up almost 7 percent from the same time last year, the highest annual increase among the 10 most populous metros, according to an analysis of Redfin data by The Real Deal.
At the same time, D.C.’s share of sales that sold above ask shrunk by 8 percent year over year, the second-steepest drop among the top 10 cities, where all but two saw their portion of homes trading above ask dwindle.
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Washington, D.C. has been fighting against strong seasonal trends and an image problem, as the National Guard continues to patrol the city’s streets.
Additionally, power has been shifting increasingly from sellers to buyers across large swathes of the country, particularly in Texas. In Houston and Dallas, nearly a third of sellers chopped prices in August, the largest percentages among the top metros.
However, not every market is experiencing this shift to the same degree. For instance, New York’s share of sales with price chops was about 18 percent, the lowest among the major markets. This share was just 0.4 percent higher than it was last year, representing the lowest annual gain among the top metros.Chicago is also faring better than most top cities. The Windy City ranked No. 1 as the metro with the greatest percentage, 41 percent, of homes going above ask in August. The national share is 27 percent. And almost a fifth of sales in Chicago were discounted in August, the third-lowest among the top cities.