Many sellers have so little or no equity they can not drop the price unless they want to bring a check to closing.
Come to think of it, other than in certain urban areas following the riots of the 1960s, I can't think of a time when there were real estate "firesales" in the region. Of course, you had cases in the Bronx in the 60s and 70s where the owners simply paid locals to torch the buildings, but that's a whole 'nother story.
During the last big real estate downturn (early 1990s), I remember something similar to what we see now (housing prices plateuing and sitting on the market for a long time), rather than an out and out crash (which seems to hit the sunbelt/resort areas harder than the NE).