Key Takeaways: 

• The typical U.S. listing saw $25,000 in cumulative price cuts in October, matching the largest discounts Zillow has ever recorded.
• Typical price cuts remain near $10,000, but multiple reductions are becoming more common as homes take longer to sell. Most sellers have the equity to trim prices and still profit.
• Relative to typical home values, the largest discounts are seen in Pittsburgh, New Orleans and Austin. 
• The smallest discounts are in affordable markets like St. Louis, Louisville and Indianapolis, where faster sales give sellers less reason to cut their list price.

Home shoppers this fall are seeing some of the steepest price cuts in years, offering a sliver of an opening for patient buyers waiting for relief from record-high costs. The typical listing in October received cumulative discounts totaling $25,000, matching the biggest discounts Zillow has tracked. 

These deeper discounts reflect a housing market slowly finding balance. Affordability has improved to a three-year best, helping fuel the most active fall since 2022. 

With affordability pressures weighing on today’s buyers, home sellers are recalibrating their expectations. The typical size of an individual price cut has barely budged in recent years, holding near $10,000. But with listings taking longer to move, sellers are increasingly trimming prices more than once as they adjust to a more buyer-friendly market. Most homeowners have seen the value of their home skyrocket in recent years, so they can afford a price cut or two and still enjoy a healthy profit. 

The biggest median discounts from initial list price appear in some of the nation’s most expensive markets: San Jose ($70,900), Los Angeles ($61,000), San Francisco ($59,001), New York ($50,000) and San Diego ($50,000).

But in markets where homes cost less to begin with, smaller cuts can represent a bigger relative discount for buyers. In Pittsburgh, for example, a typical markdown of $20,000 equals about 9% of the metro’s typical home value — the largest relative discount among major markets. New Orleans homes are also typically discounted by 9% of the metro’s typical home value, with buyers in Austin (8.4%), Houston (8.2%) and San Antonio (7.9%) seeing the next-best deals. 

At the other end of the spectrum are metros where sellers haven’t had to budge much on price. Oklahoma City ($15,000), Louisville ($15,000), St. Louis ($15,100), Indianapolis ($16,000) and Detroit ($17,100) recorded the smallest cumulative discounts in October. In all but Oklahoma City, homes are selling faster than the national average and listings tend to be newer, signs of steady demand and sellers who don’t need to discount as deeply to attract a buyer.