Business and Economy

Mountain West News Bureau

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Mountain West cities see high rates of sellers cut prices as housing market cools

KUNR Public Radio | By Kaleb Roedel

Published August 4, 2022 at 4:20 PM PDT

Most of the image is taken up by a for sale sign that says “price reduced” in front of a home. — Many cities in the U.S. are experiencing rising rates of home sellers reducing their listing prices due to a cooling housing market.

A new report reveals the U.S. cities with the highest rates of home sellers dropping their asking prices, and many of those markets are in the Mountain West.

In Reno, Nev., 33% of the homes listed for sale had a price drop in June, according to Realtor.com. That’s the highest rate in the nation. Not far behind the Biggest Little City is Nevada’s biggest city, Las Vegas, which ranks third at 31%.

In all, six out of the top 10 cities with the most price cuts are in the Mountain West. The others are Phoenix, Ariz. (No. 4), Boise, Idaho (No. 7), Ogden, Utah (No. 8), and Salt Lake City (No. 9). Colorado Springs, Colo., ranks 11th. Each of these cities saw price reductions on more than 25% of homes listed for sale in June.

Clare Trapasso, deputy news editor at Realtor.com, said these areas share a common trait.

“They’re markets where prices rose really quickly, really fast during the pandemic,” Trapasso said. “But many sellers are having to adjust the pricing on the homes they’ve listed to attract buyers.”

Trapasso says that’s because many buyers are feeling pressure from rising mortgage interest rates and inflation, while recession fears are pushing some would-be buyers out of the market altogether.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.