A report from the Seattle Times in Washington. "It was just this spring when Greater Seattle led the nation in home-price increases. Now, prices here are falling faster than anywhere. Prices haven’t fallen this fast since 2011, when the market was still bottoming out after the recession. The Case-Shiller home-price index is notable in that it covers the full metro area from Pierce to King to Snohomish counties. Prices had been falling from their spring highs in Seattle and parts of the Eastside, but the market had still been humming along on the outer reaches of the region until recently; now, prices are falling on a month-over-month basis just about everywhere."

"Brokers and buyers have reported fatigue as prices have climbed to increasingly unaffordable levels after six years of steep price growth that has far outpaced wage gains. At the same time, rents have stayed flat while interest rates continue to tick up, putting less pressure on buyers to act now. More homes are sitting on the market unsold, prompting sellers to cut list prices and be willing to negotiate."

"The median house costs $750,000 in Seattle and $890,000 on the Eastside, both down about $80,000 from their record highs set in the spring and summer. Home prices are at $473,000 in Snohomish County, $335,000 in Pierce County and $334,000 in Kitsap County, all down slightly from the high-water marks set earlier this year."

"Of course the recent declines have done little to counteract the real-estate market’s boom that has dominated much of this decade. Since 2012, prices across the metro area are still up 61 percent more than inflation. And compared to the old 2007 bubble peak, prices are 7 percent higher after adjusting for inflation."

From KUOW. "Kim Malcolm talks with Seattle Times reporter Mike Rosenberg about why the Seattle area is leading the nation in home price decreases. He covers real estate for the Seattle Times, and he told me about the recent drop: 'The numbers don’t look that big. It’s only been about 3% over the last three months, but that’s a huge change from where we’ve been. Just earlier this year, prices were rising 8% over a three-month span. So it’s been quite the turnaround and it’s been pretty sudden as well. Typically, you’ll see maybe sometimes in the winter, even during hot markets, that prices will kind of flat line. That’s what’s happening with rents right now. But for prices to go down, it’s pretty rare. So last time this has really happened was during the recession.'"

"Prices may be falling, but they’re falling from quite a height. Homes are so expensive here. Many middle-class folks have been completely priced out of this market. Should they expect to be able to buy a home any time soon?"

"A: 'No, it’s really too late for most people. All of these price increases as we’ve seen for month after month after month for the last six years have already taken their toll. If you’re looking at prices going down 3 percent, that sounds nice for somebody priced out of the market. But if they went up 75 percent for the previous six years, that’s a drop in the bucket.'"

"'If you can’t afford a house at $750,000 you’re probably not going to be able to afford it at $725,000. You’re really just moving from really unaffordable to slightly less unaffordable.'"

"'For a lot of buyers, it really doesn’t matter at this point whether prices tick down a little bit. They’re going to have to really plummet for them to be able to get back in the market.'"

"So is Seattle now a city where the dream of home ownership for a middle class family is pretty much just not going to happen?"

"A: 'Sadly, yeah. I think so. There’s very few times in history really – the recession was the only time – when prices dropped significantly. Unless you’re expecting that to happen again, and be even more significant than it was during the bubble a decade ago, I mean we’re kind of here to stay.'"

"'We’ve seen other cities – San Francisco, Vancouver, New York – once you sort of get up into that high-priced stratosphere, you don’t go back down. I think that’s the future that Seattle is facing.'"