Seattle is a prime example of the reversal. The area’s median single-family home price doubled since 2012 to $560,000, fueled by an Amazon-led tech boom that brought in a flood of highly paid workers. Houses regularly sold within a week, sometimes garnering 10 or more offers, with buyers waiving home inspections and financing contingencies.

Now, the tables are turning. The median single-family home prices in King County, which includes Seattle, fell 3 percent on a price-per-square foot basis in January, the first annual decline since 2012, according to brokerage Redfin. Roughly a sixth of the metro area’s listings had price cuts in the 12 months through January, twice the previous year’s rate, Trulia data show.

It may just be a brief respite after years of mania. Seattle’s economy and hiring remain strong, and housing is still tight compared with other parts of the country. Home sales have started to pick up from a tepid fall and winter, real estate agents say.

But there’s no question the house hunt has become easier for people such as Hector Perez, who moved to Seattle last year for an Amazon job and had heard horror stories about the crazy market. The Texas transplant and his wife, Kate, were pleasantly surprised when they zeroed in on a new home in the Queen Anne neighborhood that had been on the market for more than half a year.

Already, about $160,000 had been knocked off of the initial list price of almost $1.4 million. When the seller asked if they could do an inspection in five days, the couple said they were traveling and threatened to walk if they couldn’t get 10.

“It was a bit of a risk, but they came back and said, ‘OK,”’ Perez said. “We had a little bit of leverage that we didn’t think we’d have.”

The invisible hand of Amazon may once again be playing a role in the market. There are concerns that the company, which occupies about a fifth of Seattle’s prime office space, may be slowing its growth in the city. Last month, the tech giant said it doesn’t plan to move into the space it leased in a new 37-story tower being built downtown. Amazon, which still has thousands of positions open in the city, declined to comment.

California, Denver

The broad cooling indicates that there are greater forces at play than a single company or industry. Home sales in January were at 11-year lows in both Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area, CoreLogic Inc. reported. Prices in both the Portland, Oregon, and Denver areas fell this year for the first time since 2012, according to local multiple listings services.

In the Bay Area, San Francisco’s market may get a boost as the pending initial public offerings of Lyft Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Pinterest Inc. mint millionaires, according to Patrick Carlisle, chief market analyst in the region for the brokerage Compass. But in Silicon Valley, there’s been a dramatic slowdown, he said. Santa Clara County -- home of Google and Apple Inc. -- saw its median house price fall 1 percent in the fourth quarter to $1.25 million, after a 27 percent surge a year earlier.