The Honolulu residential real estate market was again among the U.S. markets with the fewest and smallest real estate price drops in April, according to the latest research from real estate search engine Trulia.com.

About 18 percent of the Honolulu real estate listings marketed on Trulia.com as of April 1 had dropped their prices at least once sometime during the past year. The average price reduction was 8 percent, according to Trulia, which gleans annual price reductions from among its website's live listings.

The most recent results indicate that Honolulu's real estate market might be showing signs of stabilization, said Trulia spokesman Ken Shuman.

“;We are seeing very positive news coming out of Honolulu,”; Shuman said. “;For the last three to four months, about one in every five homes has been discounted. Last summer it was one in three.”;

Honolulu is following a national trend, although the percentage of Honolulu listings with a yearly price drop as of April was lower than the U.S. average, Shuman said.

“;People (in Honolulu) are starting to understand better what their homes are worth,”; he said. “;They are pricing their homes better, and they are not staying on the market as long.”;

As much as 20 percent of the nation's April inventory had been discounted compared with 27 percent in April 2009, he said.

“;With such a dramatic drop in home price reductions over the past year, we're beginning to see early signs of stabilization in the housing market on a national level, as well as locally in certain markets,”; said Pete Flint, Trulia co-founder and chief executive officer.

Since a federal homebuying tax credit expires this month and foreclosures and interest rates are expected to continue increasing, Trulia will be looking closely at summer results to determine the health of the market going forward, Shuman said.

“;If your market does well this summer, it could be an indicator that it is in a healthier spot,”; he said.