With tax credit gone, a surge in homes with price cuts
Wow, that didn't take long.
Barely two weeks after the $18 billion home buyer tax credit rode off into the sunset, sellers appear to be cutting prices like mad, Trulia.com finds in a new report released this morning.
The number of price-reduced homes on the market in Greater Boston has soared to 31 percent, up from 26 percent in April. That is nearly a 20 percent increase since the tax credit went kaput back on April 30th.
Nationwide, homes that have dropped in price rose a substantial, but certainly not shocking, 10 percent since the beginning of May, to 22 percent of the market, Trulia reports.
But Greater Boston is right up there with several other major metro markets that have seen price cutting surge in the 12 days since the tax credit expired.
Baltimore is just a shade ahead, with 35 percent of the homes in that metro market having been reduced in price, while Minneapolis takes the cake, with a total of 40 percent, up from 32 percent before the tax credit expired.
Of course, one thing Trulia doesn't measure is how many homes went up in price in the weeks leading up to the expiration of the tax cut. There were all sorts of bidding wars for fairly modest homes across Greater Boston leading up to April 30th, which may have prompted some sellers to jack up prices.
Now, with the tax credit buyers having faded back into the woodwork, some of those overpriced properties may be getting a haircut. Yet if it's a reduction from a previously unrealistic value, it still may not necessarily be a bargain.
If nothing else, it's an early sign of coming attractions in the post-tax-credit real estate market.
