US HOME-OWNERS SLASH THEIR ASKING PRICES

       US home-owners have cut their asking prices by US$27.8 billion (Bt949 billion), with some of the biggest reductions recorded in Nevada and Florida, the states hardest hit by teh property slump, San Franciscobased real-estate data provider Trulia said last week.
       Owners have slashed prices 15 per cent in Nevada and 13 per cent in Florida and Arizona in the year to August 1, the firm said. A quarter of home-sellers lowered prices at least once, by an average of 10 per cent.
       "Sellers are resetting theirj expectations in line with falling prices," said CEO Peter Flint. "We're still clearly in a downturn even though we're coming out of it."
       The median price of an existing single-family house in the US fell a record 15.6 per cent to $174,000 in the second quarter, said the National Association of Realtors. Sales increased 11 per cent for new homes and 3.6 per cent for existing homes, Commerce Department and realtor data show, as buyers took advantage of discounts.
       Idaho had the second-biggest average reduction at 14 per cent, while prices were trimmed 13 per cent in Hawaii.
       Sellers of higher-priced properties in states that have not been hard hit during the housing recession may be"catching up with rest of the country", Flint said.
       Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Illinois had the highest share of homes, with price reductions at 33 per cent, followed by Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, Minnesota, New Hampshire adn Maryland at 29 per cent.
       Jacksonville, Florida had the highest rate of reductions among cities tracked, as 38 per cent of listings there had been cut. Portland, Pregon followed at 35 per cent. Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Boston and Seattle each had 34 per cent and Albuquerque and Chicago had 33 per cent.
       Prices were cut 22 per cent in Detroit, 16 per cent in Las Vegas, 15 per cent in Miami, 13 per cent in New York City and Phoenix, 12 per cent in San Francisco and Los Angeles and 10 per cent in Washington adn Honolulu, Trulia said.
       The company collects data from brokers and agents, third-party providers and multiple-listing services. The company's database includes 3.5 million properties.
       Trulia excluded undeveloped land as well as foreclosed properties from the survey. It looked at all homes for sale that were listed on the company's website since August 1, 2008. Some prices were lowered more than once.