The Calaveras Enterprise found some property with reduced prices in California. "The property for sale along Highway 26 is unusual in a lot of ways. But it has one feature you can find on some other residential properties in Calaveras County: a 'price reduced' sign."

"That’s because the county is experiencing the same price flattening seen in home markets nationwide, Realtors are saying. 'I believe it’s a buyer’s market now, and people are not necessarily getting their asking prices,' Betty Gibbs, who’s selling the Highway 26 property, said."

"The property has been on the market for more than a year. Originally listed at $1.3 million, its price has been reduced by $550,000."

"Gibbs said what it’s listed as now, $750,000, is in line with an appraiser’s assessment. And that asking price is firm, as far as the property’s sellers are concerned. 'But it just depends on how long that ‘for sale’ sign stays up,' Gibbs said."

"Economists, realty associations and mortgage lenders acknowledge that while home sales are still high, the market is changing. Although demand for housing isn’t something that’s short-lived, like the 'irrational exuberance,' as outgoing Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan called it, surrounding the tech market before its crash in 2001, homes are said to be settling into their actual value."

"For a property on Highway 4 in Murphys, a cabin and a cottage on 4.8 acres, that means coming down $40,000 on the asking price. It’s already been on the market 203 days. Ariana Walker, owner of the company selling that property, said its long stay on the listings log is due to its price. 'People expect to sell their homes for more than the market can bear,' she said."