Inventory overall dropped slightly in November compared with a year ago, with nine of the 19 counties in the Northwest Multiple Listing Service reporting a smaller selection of listings.

Pending sales of single-family homes and condominiums declined in all but one county. Jefferson County bucked the trend with a 53 percent jump in the number of offers made and accepted but not yet closed. Within King County, where the multiple listing service tracks 29 map areas, four of those areas reported double-digit gains in pending sales of single-family homes.

Counties where prices rose from a year ago included Cowlitz, Island, Okanogan, Pacific, San Juan and Skagit; prices were unchanged from a year ago in Lewis County. System-wide, the median price for last month's closed sales of single-family homes and condos was $285,000, down 9.5 percent from the year-ago figure of $315,000. In King County, prices fell about 5.4 percent, from $385,990 to $365,000.

Prices overall for last month's closed sales lagged figures from a year ago – down about 9.5 percent – but six counties reported gains. For the western United States, prices of single-family homes plunged 26.7 percent and condo prices dropped 24.5 percent from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.