US home sellers cut their asking prices by a total of $28.4bn to attract buyers as the real estate recovery stalled, Trulia Inc said.

The average discount was 10% as of 1 Oct, the San Francisco-based real estate data provider said today. Homes listed for more than $2m were cut the most, with owners taking an average of 14% off the original price. Luxury homes accounted for 25% of all of the reductions.

Sales of existing US homes unexpectedly fell in August for the first time since March, according to the National Association of Realtors, signalling the recovery will be slow to gain speed. The median price dropped 12.5% from August 2008.

bloomberg.com