A report from the Detroit Free Press in Michigan. "Remember that too-hot-to-handle housing market in metro Detroit? The one where a nice, well-priced home in Ferndale could get three offers on the table in one day? Well, we're starting to see listing prices on some homes inch down enough to indicate that we're settling into a housing slowdown. 'You'll probably even get a little bit better of a deal in the spring than you would right now as a buyer,' said Tim Gilson, associate broker for Keller Williams Domain and the Gilson Home Group in Birmingham. "

"More likely than not, experts say, this isn't a temporary blip but a clear indicator that the days of name-your-price bidding wars are likely to be fading fast. There may be more room to negotiate on price in some cases. Some of the more pie-in-the-sky asking prices are being trimmed back here. "

"Last week, for example, 17 homes listed for sale saw price reductions in the Woodward corridor on homes in a variety of price points, Gilson said. A quick look on Zillow indicated price cuts of $5,000 to $20,000 on some homes in the past few weeks."

"Of course, most sellers aren't willing to engage in fire-sale prices, either. Jim Shaffer, operating partner for Keller Williams Domain and Keller Williams Metro Royal Oak, says he's concerned that some potential bargain shoppers may dwell on the headlines but make unrealistic bids, as a result."

"Recently, he said, one seller in southern Oakland County dropped a home's asking price from $250,000 to $225,000. A potential buyer countered at $200,000. After some negotiation, the seller agreed to drop the price by another $8,000 to take the home down to $217,000."

"But the buyer walked away — unwilling to pay $217,000 for a home once priced at $250,000. 'Their judgement gets clouded by those news reports,' Shaffer said."

The Dallas Morning News in Texas. "Home sales are down this year in two-thirds of Dallas-area neighborhoods. After years of sharp gains in North Texas home sales and soaring prices, 2018 is the year of the housing market shift. Higher interest rates and buyer fatigue are probably to blame for a slowdown in the Dallas area's frenetic home market."

"Through the first nine months of 2018, the number of preowned home sales is down in more than two dozen of the Dallas-area neighborhoods The Dallas Morning News tracks each quarter. A year ago, about half that many local neighborhoods had year-over-year home sales declines."

"The largest double-digit percentage home sales declines this year have come in neighborhoods including Duncanville (19 percent), Fairview (19 percent), Northwest Dallas (17 percent) and Allen (15 percent)."

"Sales are also down in Northeast Dallas (14 percent), Colleyville (11 percent) and Grapevine (10 percent) for the first nine months of 2018 compared with the same period of last year."

"'Mortgage rates are a big issue,' said Paige Shipp of housing analyst Metrostudy Inc. 'For every 1 percentage increase in mortgage rates, you can buy 10 percent less home. That's a big chunk of change.'"

"Housing inventories in North Texas have increased this year by about 14 percent. But most of the growth in listings has been at higher price points. 'We are seeing a lot more competition for buyers at the higher price points,' where there is more supply, Shipp said."

"Even with the slowdown in home price gains, a midpriced home in the Dallas area that sold for $175,000 five years ago now costs almost $100,000 more. Toss in the higher mortgage costs, and that means it costs about $560 a month more to buy the same house."

"The pause in the local housing market should not be seen as a negative, said real estate agent Gary Hulkowich of DFW Re/Max Associates."

"'We have needed a market slowdown, and we also have needed higher inventory to stave off multiple offer situations that are driving prices up probably beyond what they should be,' Hulkowich said. 'Sellers need to wake up and smell the coffee and price their homes fairly.'"

"That's especially true if that house sale was last year. The Dallas housing market isn't where it was in 2017."