Right now, I’d guess that many of the sellers who are settling for less are in the “must-sell” category, either because they’re forced to or because they’re really nervous about the security of their equity. I think it takes some strong motivations for a seller to dial back on their profit expectations.
I don’t have any way of knowing percentages on something like this, but my perception (possibly because I’m concious of it) is that the phrase “motivated seller” or its equivalent is turning up on 10-15% of the listings. A year ago that would have been very rare.