From the Express Times:
Going once! Struggling builders putting new homes on the block
If you’re a prospective home buyer looking to snap up bargains, it’s hard not to notice the incentives — rebates, free upgrades, even an occasional auction.
For instance, age-restricted homes at the Riverview Estates development in Forks Township are being auctioned Sunday starting at more than half off prior asking prices.
That coincides with an announcement this week that New Jersey-based Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. is offering discounts of more than 20 percent on certain homes this weekend.
“I’m not surprised to see it happen,” said Stephen Thode, director of the Goodman Center for Real Estate Studies at Lehigh University. “Developers can be motivated sellers.”
Signs of a housing market slowdown have been evident for more than a year. Reported sales are declining while many suspect that migration from New Jersey, which fueled much of the boom earlier this decade, has finally cooled.
Developers are responding.
…
Thode said it is more common for builders to offer incentives such as free upgrades because those things don’t affect the nominal price recorded for public view in deeds.Cutting the price outright, Thode said, “could make it more difficult for the developer to increase the price at a later point.”