A report from Housing Wire. "Although several housing markets were impacted by January’s slow growth in home sales, new data from Redfin indicates the West Coast is especially feeling the slowdown. Homes in San Jose’s metro took an average of 45 days to sell for the four-week period ending Jan. 27, an increase of 12 days from the same time period in 2018. Seattle and Portland also experienced similar slowdowns."

"'Buyers this year don’t have the same sense of urgency that was palpable a year ago,' Redfin Agent Daniel Brooks said. 'Buyers are not worried about losing out on homes and more than willing to wait for a seller to drop her price. With front-row seats to a rapidly changing market, 2019’s buyer is savvy and is adapting quickly to the new normal.'"

"'The slowing pace of the market comes as good news for buyers who may have felt rushed in the overheated market last spring,' Redfin writes. 'As competition for homes eases, buyers now have more time to carefully consider what for many will be the largest purchase of their life.'"

From CNBC. "Home prices rose 4.7 percent in December, according to CoreLogic. That is the smallest annual gain since August 2012. Prices are still rising because of the shortage of homes for sale, especially on the lower end of the market. But rising mortgage rates took their toll on affordability last year, causing sales to slow. Prices usually lag sales by several months."

"Price gains are shrinking in most markets, but prices are on the verge of falling in some of the formerly hottest markets, like California. The median price paid for all Southern California homes sold in December was $515,000, up just 1.1 percent year over year."

"'The roughly 1 percent annual increase in Southern California’s median sale price last month marked the lowest such gain in the uninterrupted string of year-over-year increases each month that began in April 2012,' said Andrew LePage, a CoreLogic analyst. 'The median’s annual increases have declined over the past year as home sales slowed and inventory rose. The median’s tiny annual gain last month also reflects a shift in market mix, where higher-end sales represented a slightly lower share of all activity compared with December 2017.'"