The longer Kim Tucker shopped for a home, the sweeter the offers got. Builders were willing to knock anywhere from $3,000 to $5,000 off asking prices. The owner of an existing home offered to toss in a big-screen TV. When the First Citizens Bank manager finally settled on a $199,000 townhouse in Bryarton Village, a Bill Clark Homes development off Tryon Road in Raleigh, she received $8,000 in kitchen upgrades, designer paint and price cuts.

"It's getting a little easier to negotiate. Sellers are more willing to accept contingency offers," said Tucker, who still needs to sell her home in Winston-Salem to complete the purchase.

The slowdown in the national housing market appears to be reaching the Triangle. Although sales of new homes were up in the first two quarters of the year, existing home sales, which can affect the larger market, are flattening. Newcomers to the market -- who have been responsible for much of the home buying over the past few years -- are having more trouble selling their homes in other parts of the country. Higher mortgage rates are scaring off some buyers.

Not all builders are seeing a decline, but home buyers are finally finding some who are ready to deal.

"I'm seeing more incentives than any time in the past two or three years," said Glenn Astolfi, chief operating officer of DNJ Mortgage in Cary.

Drees Homes began offering 3.99 percent mortgage financing for one year after sales dropped 25 percent in July and August. Dave Hausfeld, division president of the Kentucky-based company, said Drees' inventory of 20 finished homes was nearly twice what it likes to keep on hand.

Among other offers:

* McCar Homes is offering $5,000 home theater systems with 42-inch plasma televisions to kick off sales at Weston Place, a Cary project where townhouses start at $300,000. The Atlanta home builder expects sales to double this year from last year, but sales have slowed 20 percent since June, said Jennifer Greene, the company's marketing manager.

* Jordan Built Homes of Knightdale is advertising free washers, dryers and refrigerators to buyers who close by Dec. 31.

* Pulte Homes and M/I Homes are advertising price reductions worth thousands of dollars.

U.S. sales in slump

Nationally, the situation is worse for home builders. Sales of new homes in August fell 17.4 percent from the same month last year, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

About 44 percent of U.S. home builders have reduced prices and more than half are offering free upgrades, such as marble countertops, fireplaces and garages, according to the National Association of Home Builders.

For most of this year, moderate prices and job growth have protected the Triangle from the problems plaguing the housing market across the country.

Although investors have bumped up home prices elsewhere, median prices in the Triangle have remained steady.

Wake County's median August sales price was $185,600, basically flat compared with a year ago, according to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service. In Durham, the median sales price in August was $159,900, up 6 percent from a year ago, its figures show.

In the meantime, the Triangle's unemployment rate in August was 3.7 percent, compared to 4.7 percent statewide. The region's labor pool has grown by 37,473 people in the past 12 months.

"You have a really vibrant economy in Research Triangle Park, and it will draw people in. And if you draw them in, you've got to house them," said Michael Helmar, an economist for Moody's Economy.com. "But growth will be slower."

Indeed, sales of new homes for the first half of 2006 were up 8.6 percent over last year in the Triangle, the listing service found.

But the growth rate of existing home sales has declined every month since May.

In August, sales were up only 0.3 percent, with 3,113 homes sold in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties, compared with 3,103 a year ago, the listing service found. By comparison, sales in August 2005 increased almost 23 percent from the same period a year before.

The listing service statistics primarily reflect existing home sales. Sales of all new homes in the Triangle won't be available for several weeks.

Meanwhile, some builders have not seen slowing sales.

"If there's a slowdown, we're not seeing it to any magnitude," said Centex Homes division president Hampton Pitts. "Our second-quarter starts are identical to a year ago."

But Fonville Morisey Builder Marketing Group, which last year sold about 1,000 homes valued at $400 million, expects sales to fall about 5 percent this year, said its president, Audie Barefoot.

M/I Homes division president Don Fraley expects yearly totals to decline 7 percent to 10 percent from last year.

Lenders and builders blame higher interest rates.

Three years ago, borrowers could lock in 3.75 percent loans for three years with adjustable rate mortgages -- about two points lower than rates for 30-year fixed mortgages. But last week, the average rate for a one-year adjustable rate mortgage was 5.9 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The rate on 30-year fixed mortgages was 6.18 percent, the association said.

Signs point to continued cooling in the local market.

For the third consecutive month, pending sales contracts declined, according to the listing service. The current seven-month inventory of homes for sale is at the highest level since October 2004. There were 14,496 listings in August, up 8.5 percent from a year before,.

Too much inventory in the existing home market -- where buyers can often afford to wait for an offer they like -- puts pressure on the new-home market.

Builders usually can't afford to carry too much inventory.

"All the builders are having to do more incentive programs," said Hal Adams, a division president for Bill Clark Homes.