Southern California home prices continue to slide - Los Angeles Times 22/10/08 08:08 p.m.

Hello nandofuentevilla@... Profile Logout

Jobs | Cars.com | Real Estate | Foreclosure Sale | More Classifieds
LAT Home | My LATimes | Print Edition | All Sections

Business SEARCH

You are here: LAT Home > Business News

REAL ESTATE
Email | Print | Text | RSS

Business
Southern California home prices ADVERTISEMENT

» Advertising
continue to slide
The median is down 33% from a year ago. Sales rise 65% amid bargain hunting; half of
» Autos September's home sales are foreclosures.
» The Biz
» Investing By Peter Y. Hong
» Real Estate October 21, 2008
» Small Business
Don't count on that housing recovery any time soon.
» Technology
» Work & Careers Southland home prices tumbled again in September, according to data released
» Your Money Monday, continuing a trend that began 14 months ago and bringing median values
down 39% below their peak last year.
Blogs
» Money & Co. What's more, the
» Technology September sales
» Company Town figures reflect many
» LA Land homes that went into
» Up to Speed escrow in July or
August -- before the
Business Tools financial crisis rattled
Most Viewed Most E-mailed
nerves, depleted the
» Business A-Z
investment savings of 1. Britney Spears case ends in mistrial
» Investor Tips millions of Americans
» Law Resources Full coverage: Financial Chart: September 2. McCain's push may not budge Pennsylvania
and cast fresh doubts
» Money Library crisis home sales about the economy's 3. Lakers' Kobe Bryant injured in exhibition
» Money Q & A strength. 4. Vice president: a split-ticket vote?
» Bank Rates 5. Raid targets Mongols motorcycle gang
» Press Releases "Buying a home is a big decision, and it's not
ADS BY GOOGLE 6. Teen who killed himself inside Acton high school
one you want to make when you're not sure
was bullied, students say
where prices are headed," said UC Berkeley
News/Opinion California Homes for Sale 7. Sarah Palin's college years left no lasting
economist Thomas Davidoff. "Now a lot of impression
California | Local View Homes and Homesites for Sale people are facing unemployment, so there's 8. Health insurers reinvent themselves as money
National in California the risk they'll lose their income and not be managers
www.LandWatch.com/California able to make their payments." 9. Desert cross may lead to landmark ruling
World
Business 10. In Florida, Obama goes from rock star to professor
Bank Foreclosure The median Southern California home sale
Sports price was $308,500 in September, down 7%
Check out these valuable Bank
Campaign '08 Foreclosure resources from August and 33% from a year ago,
Science HugeDiscounts.cc/BankForeclosure according to real estate research firm MDA
Environment DataQuick.
Opinion Miami Condo Short Sales
Bank-owned, foreclosed property More homes were trading hands, with last
Free listings deep discounted deals month's sales total 65% higher than a year
Arts/Entertainment
www.buybeach.com
ago. But MDA DataQuick President John
Entertainment Walsh noted that the figures were recorded
The Guide "before the dramatic worsening of the nation's
Arts & Culture economic crisis in recent weeks."
The Envelope
"Over the next few weeks our sales data will begin to show how the meltdown in
financial markets this fall has impacted housing demand," Walsh said in a statement.
Living
Travel The increase in sales activity is being driven by bargain hunters scooping up
Health distressed properties. Fully half the homes sold in Southern California last month
Autos were fore- closures, MDA DataQuick said.
Home & Garden
Before the financial crisis hit full force last month, some observers had predicted that
Food
a market bottom might be near -- citing the rise in sales activity.
Image
Books But now, rising unemployment, weakness in the economy and a jump in mortgage
Living Green

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-homes21-2008oct21,0,5064519.story Page 1 of 3
Southern California home prices continue to slide - Los Angeles Times 22/10/08 08:08 p.m.

Living Green interest rates could cause the market to "overshoot" its natural bottom, loosely
defined as the point at which a middle-income person can afford a median-priced
Data Desk
home.
Video
Photography The last time Southland home prices were at the level was from late 1996 to early
Obituaries 1999.
Crosswords/Sudoku
Your Scene "If you're fearful and expecting a weak economy, you're not going to buy a home.
That will put downward pressure on prices, which has a cumulative effect as more
Blogs people start postponing buying a home as they try to wait it out for a better deal,"
Columnists said UCLA economist Edward Leamer.
Print Edition
Readers Rep Although values are plunging throughout the Southland, the steepest declines
Corrections continue to be in the Inland Empire, where builders created a glut of new homes
aimed at first-time buyers.
All Sections
In San Bernardino County, the median price sank to $215,000, 40% lower than a
Buy, Sell & More year ago. Riverside County saw a 37% decline.
Jobs
Cars Falling prices had been making homes more affordable this year. About 15% of Los
Real Estate
Angeles-area residents could afford to buy a median-priced house in the second
quarter of this year, according to a National Assn. of Home Builders index, up from
Foreclosure Sale
less than 11% the previous quarter.
Apartments
Personals Leamer called the rise in September home sales "a very hopeful sign," because he
Deals at Local Stores sees rising sales as a leading indicator of a market recovery. Real Estate Headlines
Coupons
1. Misery loves company at Realtors expo
Newspaper Ads But now, "just as things started to get better, we've frightened everybody to death,"
Leamer said, singling out government officials he said used fear to sell the federal 2. Home construction falls sharply in September
economic rescue package. "All that fear could make the next quarter very difficult" 3. SoCal home sales, prices and foreclosures
Place an Ad
for housing, "but we'll find out in a few months," he said. 4. California Realtors forecast lower home prices,
In the Newspaper rising sales in 2009
Online Christopher Thornberg, principal of Beacon Economics, a Los Angeles consulting 5. How much foreclosure relief will homeowners get
firm, said the housing market was bound to overshoot its bottom even before this from bailout plan?
Settings/Services month's economic meltdown. That's because the economy was already in a
recession and consumers have been fearful for months, he said.
Sign In
Register "The downward momentum occurred before the economic turmoil," he said, although
Personalized News he acknowledged that in the last few weeks the nation had "gone from denial to The quest for cancer-
hysteria."
E-Mail Newsletters
RSS Feeds
preventing drugs
Help "The truth is somewhere in the middle. It's bad, but not that bad," he said.
It's one thing to
Contact Us develop medicine
Thornberg is sticking by his prediction that home prices will bottom late next year, without horrific side
L.A. Times Archives with the Southern California median sale price falling to about $250,000, or roughly effects, and another to
Reprint Requests half the median price at the 2007 peak. get doctors, patients
on board. The
Work for Us
prevention approach
Real estate agent Nadia de Winter said she saw the mixed picture of the housing faces an uphill
Home Delivery market in her current transactions. Five of her clients have properties in escrow, De struggle.
Winter said. Those homes are selling for less than $400,000, a price she said was
Customer Support
low enough for some first-time buyers.
Subscribe
But she thinks higher-priced homes have not dropped enough in price to lure
buyers. Meanwhile, many individual home sellers at all levels are still not willing to
Your Scene: Reader Photos
lower their prices to compete with foreclosed properties flooding the market.
View our readers' photos of Four-Legged
About 10 people stopped by to look at a four-bedroom, three-bath house listed for Friends and share your own at Your Scene.
$550,000, and De Winter didn't foresee any offers coming. Submit your photo »

"Three months ago this would have been a good deal at $550,000, but there's a
foreclosure across the street for $450,000. When will we see the bottom? I don't
know. But are we there now? I don't think so," she said.

Hong is a Times staff writer. peter.hong@latimes.com

Save/Share

Hot Property: Tori Spelling's Westwood home

The actress best known for her role as Donna Martin on "Beverly Hills,
90210" has listed her abode at $2,395,000. It has five bedrooms and 3
1/2 bathrooms in about 3,300 square feet.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-homes21-2008oct21,0,5064519.story Page 2 of 3
Southern California home prices continue to slide - Los Angeles Times 22/10/08 08:08 p.m.

Absinthe makes a comeback in U.S., Europe

Proprietors introduce a new generation to its drinking rituals and
mystique as myths of its hallucinogenic qualities are dispelled.

Save over 50% off the newsstand price. Click here to subscribe to The Times.

ADS BY GOOGLE

Miami Condo Short Sales

Bank-owned, foreclosed property Free listings deep discounted deals
www.buybeach.com

Los Cabos Real Estate

Villas, Homes, Condos, and Land in Sunny Los Cabos
FavoriteAgent.com

Maui Houses for Sale

Extraordinary Maui Houses for Sale with views - West Maui - Upcountry
www.DowlingCo.com/Houses

More on LATimes.com Partners Classifieds

Advertising | Investing Tools | Technology | Work Hoy | KTLA | Metromix | ShopLocal | Shopping Career Builder | Cars.com | Apartments.com FSBO
and Careers Grocery Coupons (For Sale By Owner) | Open Houses

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Advertise | Home Delivery | Reprint Requests | Help & Services | Contact |
Site Map

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-homes21-2008oct21,0,5064519.story Page 3 of 3