A housing report from the Baltimore Sun. "The number of homes sold last month in metropolitan Baltimore posted the smallest decline in 10 months as sellers became increasingly willing to forgo price gains."

"'Baltimore prices are still positive, and they haven't gotten into negative territory,' as prices have done elsewhere in the nation, including Washington and Northern Virginia, said John McClain, at George Mason University. 'I think Baltimore is going to have a softer landing than Washington or a lot of other places.'"

"Baltimore's market could still see some declines in average sales price in the coming months, McClain said. The city has seen double-digit price increases that at times topped 20 percent during the housing boom."

"The November MRIS report showed price declines in Anne Arundel and Harford counties, with prices flat in Baltimore and Carroll counties. And with inventory still high, homes sat on the market last month nearly twice as long, the MRIS said."

"'With mortgage rates having fallen over the past six months, and home prices turning negative in this area, that will be a strong inducement for the buyers to enter the market,' said Lawrence Yun, a senior economist with the Realtors association."

"It has helped that sellers have begun to come to terms with the current pricing in the market and are realizing it is unrealistic to expect to get last year's prices for their home, he said."

"'A large majority of the sellers have had to go through that denial period,' said (broker) Carl J. Galler. 'The new sellers coming into the market are educated as to what's going on. Sellers are willing to give back money for closing, and going into the process knowing they'll give concessions and steeling themselves for that.'"

"Real estate agent David L. Jefferson said it is common now to see a seller shave as much as $20,000 to $40,000 from an asking price, especially in higher-priced areas such as Fells Point, Canton and the Inner Harbor, where listings remain high."

"Many of those sellers are investors who bought houses or condos during the boom, and some are now dropping their prices to the amount they paid originally, he said."

"'At this point, the market is in a transition; it's kind of bottoming out,' he said. 'It won't turn from a buyer's back to a seller's market, but you'll see more interest from buyers.'"