As the heat of the summer recedes and the fall monsoon season starts brewing, something odd is going on in the housing market: prices are dropping.

A few months back, it was just a few hard-sell neighborhoods, but now, it’s pretty much everywhere. These aren’t little cosmetic just-to-get-your-attention drops, either. They are big, fat, stunning drops, like a ball off the hands of a wide-open George Pickens (have fun with that, Cowboys fans), or an easy pop fly in front of Oneil Cruz.

Sucks if you’re selling a house, but hey, if you’re buying — maybe the glory days are right now.

Sure, historically this is a harbinger of bad things to come in the broader economy. It could also be a correction to prices that had been climbing too high for too long, if you’re an optimist (I am not).

Oh, there’s one other beneficiary: this column. Now I don’t feel as fraudulent talking about “Affordable-ish Housing in Pittsburgh” like it’s an endangered species soon to be extinct. Still, the chance that this is just a temporary respite is real, so take that into account.

For sale: 210 Langley Ave., Marshall-Shadeland, $167,500.

PRICE CUT: $7,500. Painting your house baby blue is kind of a choice, but in the long months of Western Pa.’s brown season (once called winter), any splash of color is likely welcome. Then, you go inside, and everything is painted black!Oh, this makes up for the endless ubiquity of minimalist-“greige,” a trend that will never die. There have to be at least a few Goths out there who want a home for their coven with black walls, black ceilings, black everything (just like our hearts).

**1011 Penn St**. Credit: Courtesy of Zillow

For rent: 1011 Penn St., Sharpsburg, $1,200/month.

Sharpsburg’s glory days were probably back when H.J. Heinz was just a kid selling pickles door-to-door, but it certainly feels like some better days are ahead. This might fit some definitions of a suburb, though it feels more urban than 60% of Pittsburgh neighborhoods, and probably has zero appeal to anyone who likes anything about Cranberry. I have a tiny bit of family history here — my godmother grew up here, my grandpa did some ironwork on a church here — so I’m a little biased, but I think Sharpsburg has a lot going for it. Then again, I tend to rate the presence of pierogies way higher than most people, and Polska Laska is definitely a contender for the buttery throne.

**200 Wilbur St.** Credit: Courtesy of Zillow

For sale: 200 Wilbur St., $154,900, Bon Air.

PRICE CUT: $5,000. What goes on in Bon Air? Besides, uh, the good air (my French, it’s not so good). At this price, does it matter? Three bedrooms, a giant porch with a porch swing, and all the air you can possibly breathe — sounds pretty good, actually.

**University Commons, 300 McKee Pl.** Credit: Courtesy of Zillow

For rent: University Commons, 300 McKee Pl., Oakland, $1,175/month.

Nobody’s pretending to market this place to anyone but college students, and that’s OK. (What gives it away? Is it the sorority paraphernalia, or the industrial quantities of pink?) Oakland has lost 90% of what made it fun (and dangerous) in the early 2000s, but the upside is that the housing is way more habitable than it once was. I mean, I’d take the old Oakland in a second, but the new one has its good points, like Asian food and a low likelihood of getting stabbed.

For sale: 659 6^th St., Oakmont, $150,000.

Oakmont is easily one of my 2-3 favorite suburbs (yes, I have those) for a few reasons. First, it was built before the car came to dominate every aspect of American life, so it’s pretty friendly to people who walk or bike, provided you can handle hills. It’s got a long main business district with bakeries, restaurants, bookstores, etc. Finally, it has a huge array of housing types from many different eras, at many different price points. That ranges from actual mansions around Oakmont Country Club to plentiful little places like this towards the river. And now that the Allegheny River isn’t a giant sewer for industrial waste anymore — as it was for about 100 years — it’s a pretty nice amenity, too.

For rent: 400 4^th St., Oakmont, $1,095/month.

My grandparents spent their last few years in Oakmont, so I have an affection for the place that goes beyond aesthetics. If I could change one thing about it, it would be adding more apartments, because more foot traffic equals more and better shops and restaurants, and non-homeowners deserve nice places to live outside the city too. There are some, like this one, but it would be even better if there were a lot more. However, suburbs love to invent reasons to keep new apartment construction out, so this might be it.