Zillow analysis: Bay Village top sellers' market in Cleveland metro, Mentor top for buyers

CLEVELAND - Many home sellers are thriving in the San Francisco, San Jose and Las Vegas metro areas, where price cuts are relatively uncommon and homes often sell for at or near their asking price.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleveland metros are still buyers' markets, with homes taking longer to sell and buyers logging average discounts of 5 percent off the asking price.

A new analysis of buyers' and sellers' markets puts the Cleveland metro area at No. 3 overall on the list of top buyers' markets, according to Zillow's real estate market report.

In the Cleveland metro area, Mentor is listed as the top buyers' market, while Bay Village takes the top sellers' market spot.

The top 3 Cleveland metro buyers' markets:
1. Mentor
2. Garfield Heights
3. Painesville

The top 3 Cleveland metro sellers' markets:
1. Bay Village
2. Lorain
3. Medina

The analysis used data on sale-to-list price ratio, number of days listings spent on Zillow and percent of homes on the market with a price cut, then ranked the 50 largest metro areas to determine whether buyers or sellers have more negotiating power in a given market.

Top buyers' markets tend to have a lot of inventory, steep price cuts, and homes that linger on the market. Top sellers' markets typically have low inventory, homes selling for more than the asking price, and a quick turnover.

"It's refreshing to see some markets swinging back in favor of sellers, with asking prices being met and listings spending fewer days on market," said Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries in a news release. "The housing recession has been long and rocky, and we’re seeing more balance during this summer selling season. Of course, many markets are still firmly in favor of buyers, and we expect that to continue until the recovery takes more of a hold nationwide."

On the Web: Zillow www.zillow.com/blog