A report from the News Observer in North Carolina. "'There is a negative mood in the market,' said Stacey Anfindsen, a Cary-based appraiser with Birch Appraisal, who puts together the monthly Triangle Area Residential Realty Market Report. The buzz kill, Anfindsen said in a phone interview with The News & Observer, is the mortgage rates, which are going to continue rising."

"Anfindsen’s assessment isn’t the only local report pointing a finger at mortgage rates. A quarterly report from Metrostudy noted that 'builders in the third quarter were reporting signs of a slowdown in buyer traffic compared to 2017 and the first half of 2018, as home mortgage rates have started to rise alongside continuing new home base price escalations.'"

"The Metrostudy report also noted that wages might not be growing fast enough to keep up with the market’s price increases. 'We are starting to see more price fatigue because we have had such high price increases for the past two years,' said Amanda Hoyle, regional director of Metrostudy’s Raleigh office. 'There are some buyers that are stepping back.'"

"Tom Gongaware, a general manager at Allan Tate Realtor’s Raleigh office, agreed that in the grand scheme of things rates are still low. But that doesn’t mean people are used to them rising, after so many years of the rates staying low."

"'Yes, interest rates have ticked up, but they are still very low,' Gongaware said. 'But I do think that sellers are realizing that we are transitioning to a more balanced market and are going to be a bit more realistic in their pricing, which will encourage buyers to come back.'"

From the San Francisco Chronicle in California. "In San Francisco, the number of homes with a price cut in October nearly doubled, to 238 from 124 last October, according to Realtor.com. That’s nothing compared to Santa Clara County, where the number of price cuts rose to 818 last month, more than six times last year’s number. Santa Clara County had been one of the nation’s hottest markets this year, and the Bay Area’s price appreciation leader until September."

"Rich Bennett, a Zephyr agent in San Francisco, just cut the price on an 1,832-square-foot Victorian condo in popular Hayes Valley by $100,000. He listed the Page Street home in mid-October at just under $1.7 million, which was realistic considering it has three bedrooms, parking and a laundry porch and is 'absolutely adorable,' he said."

"But the buyers didn’t come. 'In October, we saw more inventory come on the market. The economics of the Bay Area haven’t really changed,' Bennett said. But 'if you don’t have people beating down your door after two to three weeks,' it’s time to consider a price change."

"Another condo just down Page Street from his listing also had a $100,000 price cut. It sold in February for about $1.4 million and went on the market again at $1.395 million in early October. Now it’s listed at $1.295 million, below its last sales price. 'That is a good indication of how the market has shifted,' Bennett said."

"Even Palo Alto, famous for its multimillion-dollar teardowns, is seeing price reductions. Re/Max Realtor Karen Fink said she listed a house near Stanford University on a 1½-acre lot with 'a ton of deferred maintenance' for $4.1 million in mid-August. After reducing the price to $3.5 million, the Palo Alto property closed Oct. 30 for $3.18 million, nearly a million less than the original price."

"In San Mateo, Dennis Pantano of Pantano Properties just sold a house on Texas Way for $1.6 million after four price cuts. He listed the 1,990-square-foot house for about $1.75 million in mid-June. But within 10 days, the number of listings in San Mateo around that price jumped to nine from two. Had he listed it in May, it would have had lots of offers, he said. 'It’s an illustration that not every house sells at full price or over.'"