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

Prices of nearly one in four homes, or 23.6 percent, listed for sale on the Zillow website had been cut at least once as of the end of May, up from 23.2 percent in April, Zillow said in the report, which was obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

May marked the second month in a row that the percentage of home sellers who reduced their asking price increased from the previous month.

Price reductions peaked last September, when nearly one-third, or 32.6 percent, of listings on Zillow had at least one price cut.

The size of the reductions, however, fell in May, with a median price cut of 6.2 percent, down from 6.3 percent in April, the report said.

The Midwest had the highest percentages of price reductions. In the Flint, Michigan metropolitan area, the asking price of 34.4 percent of homes listed on Zillow were reduced, followed by the Omaha and Minneapolis-St. Paul metro areas at 33 percent each.

Michigan had the biggest price reductions, with prices in the Flint metro area reduced by 11.5 percent and prices in the Detroit metro area cut by 10.4 percent, Zillow said.

Michigan