The percentage of U.S. home sellers who cut their asking price rose in April, but price reductions were smaller, real estate website Zillow.com said in a report.

Prices of nearly one in four homes, or 23.2 percent, listed for sale on the Zillow website had been cut at least once as of the end of April, up from 20.7 percent in March, Zillow said in the report, which was obtained by Reuters on Tuesday..

The rise reversed a recent trend. March had been the third month in a row that the percentage of home sellers who reduced their asking price declined from the previous month.

Price reductions peaked last September, when nearly one-third of listings on Zillow had at least one price cut.

The size of the reductions, however, fell in April, with a median price cut of 6.3 percent, down from 6.5 percent in March, the report said.

The Midwest had the highest percentages of price reductions. In the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, the asking price of 32.9 percent of homes listed on Zillow were reduced, followed by the Omaha and St. Louis metro areas at 32 percent each.

Michigan had the biggest price reductions, with prices in the Flint metro area reduced by 10.9 percent and prices in the Detroit metro area cut by 10.5 percent, Zillow said.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

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