A report from the Santa Cruz Sentinel in California. "Single-family home sales in Santa Cruz County dropped in November — from 183 a year ago to 134 — and the median price, the midpoint of what sold, was $911,250, according to Gary Gangnes of Real Options Realty, who tracks the numbers. Paul Bailey, co-owner of Bailey Properties with 43 years in real estate, calculates there are 1.9 homes per buyer, up from .8 per buyer in March, when the median price set a new record of $935,100. "

"He said that means there’s a balance, with neither buyers nor sellers having more leverage. 'We’re not used to this, he said, recalling the last time the real estate market was this way was in the late 1990s."

"Sellers who expected they could tack 5 percent onto their asking price found fewer buyers. Deals were made after sellers lowered the price, sometimes more than once. Buyers have more to choose from  — a big change after years of shrinking listings."

"Seb Frey of Realty World Virtuoso in Capitola contends 2018 was the peak year for local real estate, with the market stalling because buyers can’t afford to pay more for a home. He expects a drag on the 2019 market when taxpayers see the full impact of the reductions in state and local taxes and mortgage interest tax deductions. 'For most would be buyers in the greater Bay Area, owning a home won’t pencil out favorably on a month-to-month basis,' he said."

From KTUV. "2018 ends with a new reality in the real estate market – the days of homes entering and exiting the market in hours are over. A sales slump in the Bay Area has turned a seller’s market into a buyer’s market."

"Coldwell Banker realtor Brian Kiernan is still making a killing in the market. But as he welcomes prospective buyers to his latest prize, a four-bedroom, two and a half bath ranch-style home in the Almaden Valley section of San Jose, it’s with the knowledge this property sat on the market 70-days before he was able to broker a deal."

"'Taking a pause on the buyers' side has led some homes to sit on the market a little bit longer than what we’d been accustomed to in the last couple of years,' said Kiernan."

"Earlier in the year, a long time on the market was measured in a matter of days. Now it’s months, as a six-month slide that started back in June, continues into the new year. 'I’m not surprised that volume has dropped. This is what happens when you reach a plateau,' said Fred Foldvary, a San Jose State University economist."

"He says there are indications the malaise could become a meltdown. Wall Street is erratic. Interest rates are on the rise, and home prices are reaching equilibrium – a point where both buy and seller must compromise. 'When housing becomes unaffordable, prices stop rising...I think this is the beginning signs of a coming recession such as we had in 2008,' said Foldvary."

"Another crash could be years off. In the meantime, realtors, buyers, and sellers are coming to grips with the new reality. 'Too often they were throwing caution to the wind. I don’t think they have to do that today,' said Kiernan."

The San Francisco Chronicle. "We regularly write about one-of-a-kind properties here at 'On the Block.' But even though we feel these homes are worthy of your attention, some of them are so special that, as we look back at the year gone by, we have to wonder: Whatever happened to those most-memorable listings?"

"Well, in 2018, the answer, for the most part, is that they failed to sell or sold at a reduced price. Could it be that, as the market softens, there is less of an appetite for homes which may be a challenge to resell? Or does the personal attachment that often comes along with such an individualized home mean that sellers are unwilling to see their prize property get anything less than top dollar?"

The Orange County Register. "As 2018 ends, let’s recap all those economic trends that forced us, at least momentarily, to ask 'another bubble?' a decade after the Great Recession."

"In 2018, developers got a rude surprise: The build-it-and-they-will-come approach doesn’t work. The number of unsold, finished new homes is running at post-recession highs. This has forced builders to offer more incentives — or a polite way of saying 'cut prices.'"

"Builders over-bet on the upper slice of the market. Their tactics to trim inventories will reverberate — from pressuring all home pricing as well cool future development plans and construction hiring."

"Southern California housing’s big story of 2017 was what was perceived to be a dramatic shortage of homes to buy. That changed dramatically in 2018 for reasons not fully fathomable. Was it an abrupt desire to move — whether it was younger owners seeking more space or seniors downsizing? Or investors cashing out of rental properties?"

"No matter the cause, a rush to sell puts pressure on home values and raises questions about how owners may act when economic conditions truly sour. "

"Maybe the job market is weak, so house hunters are having second thoughts. Pricier mortgages haven’t help. More choices — the supply of both existing and newly constructed homes both rose — took away the 'buy-now-or-never' urgency. And tax-law changes nudged the 'rent-or-buy' math away from ownership."

"One wonders where pent-up demand went. This most worrisome of 2018’s economic hiccups hints that demand for housing ownership in Southern California is badly overstated."