Seattle treading water?

I've seen Seattle held up as an example of how the west coast is immune to the housing downturn in the US, which means that our own west-coast city is immune to any housing downturn as well.. unfortunately for that example, house prices in Seattle have been dropping just recently falling lower that the previous year for the first time since 2002:

Geoff Pfander put his Wedgwood house on the market in mid-September.

"I'm trying to have faith in Seattle," he said at an open house last weekend. "I think (buyers) just have more choices now so they get to look around more."

To stand out in a market with more and more homes for fewer and fewer buyers, home sellers are reducing list prices, offering special financing and entering potential buyers into drawings for a bottle of champagne if they'll say what they think of a house.

Teri Daligney held open houses last Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a West Seattle home she and a partner remodeled and put on the market at the end of July.

"I live three hours away, and I want to stop driving," she said, noting that they had only just finished renovations.

"We get tons of people coming in and looking, but nobody who's serious," Daligney said. "I just think they're scared."

Real estate professionals said some potential buyers are jittery, while some sellers have unrealistic expectations for prices.