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Published: Nov 08, 2022 3 min read
Photo Collage of a suburban house with a for sale sign and a calendar in the background
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Looking for a bargain on a new home? The middle of the week might be the best time to find one.

An analysis by real estate platform Zillow finds that Thursday is the most popular day of the week for home sellers to cut list prices. Zillow used data from 2019 for its analysis, focusing on home listings that saw price cuts, and determined that 18.5% of price decreases occurred on a Thursday.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were close behind — between 17% and 18% of listings with price cuts saw decreases on those days.

The fewest price drops happened on Saturdays (just 5.8% of listings with price cuts in 2019), and Sundays (a little less than 10%).

In the report, Zillow economic analyst Anushna Prakash suggests that open houses and other weekend activities mean sellers are less likely to reduce prices those days.

In general, Zillow found that sellers now are deciding to lower home list prices more quickly than they did in the recent past. Sellers are now cutting their prices about three weeks after they first list their home. Before the pandemic supercharged the housing market, it typically took home sellers about a month before they cut prices.

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Home price cuts are on the rise

Soaring mortgage rates (which recently broke 7% but have since slipped back down) are having an enormous impact on how the housing market has changed. As borrowing costs continue to rise, more and more buyers are opting to sit on the sidelines and wait for the market to improve. With fewer buyers competing for homes, sellers are slashing prices.

Data released last month by real estate brokerage Redfin showed that more than one in five homes on the market had a price drop in September — the highest share in a decade.

While price cuts and a slowing market are good news for buyers who can still afford to buy at today’s rates, Prakash adds that the selections of available homes is dwindling, too. “This year’s buyers could feel as though there are fewer fresh options to choose from each week,” she writes.

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Home Sellers Are Slashing List Prices at a Record High Rate

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Prices Would Have to Fall 25% for Homes to Be Affordable Again: Study