A report from the Santa Cruz Sentinel in California. "In September, the median price for a single-family home in Santa Cruz County was $920,000, the same as in August and just a tad off the record $935,100 in March, according to Gary Gangnes of Real Options Realty, who tracks the numbers. But in September, sellers at the high end and low end dropped their prices. Sales were the slowest in 10 years."

"The 'unsold inventory index' was 4.2 months, the highest in four years. Another sign of slowdown: It takes longer to sell a home. MLSListings reported the average days on market swelled in September from 33 to 54 days."

"Roger Berke, co-owner of Thunderbird Realty in Soquel, walked away from a seller who refused to see the shift in the market. 'First time,' said Berke, who has spent 30 years in real estate. 'The denial … I see more price reductions than new listings. Buyers see the marketing softening.'"

"Robert Bailey, co-owner of Bailey Properties in Aptos, reported from a real estate conference on the East Coast that agents in Michigan, Texas and Massachusetts are seeing the same shift. 'This is more a psychological shift than anything else,' he said, noting Google and Apple buses are still driving employees to high-paying jobs over the hill."

"'People may well have been unrealistic,' Bailey said, adding that '54 days on the market would have been considered normal several years ago… It just became normal again.'"