California Home Prices Drop 32% Amid Foreclosures, Realtors Say

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



California Home Prices Drop 32% Amid Foreclosures, Realtors Say

By Dan Levy

May 23 (Bloomberg) -- California home prices tumbled 32 percent in April from a year earlier as ``distressed'' properties and a lack of financing cut demand, the state realtors group said.

The median existing home price fell to $403,870, the California Association of Realtors said in a statement today. Sales increased 2.5 percent, ending 30 months of consecutive year-on-year declines. Homes priced under $500,000 accounted for 64 percent of sales compared with 40 percent a year earlier.

California had the second-highest U.S. foreclosure rate in April, one for every 204 households, and the most foreclosure filings for the 16th consecutive month, RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data, reported on May 14. Sales increased in northern and southern California last month as buyers purchased discounted properties that had been in some stage of default, DataQuick Information Systems said this week.

``Both tighter underwriting standards and the ongoing effects of the credit/liquidity crunch continue to constrain sales,'' William Brown, president of the association, said in the statement.


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601213&sid=aeST4ALMGYeY&refer=home

[slackmaster]

1. That is actaully good news

Sad for people who lose their homes to foreclosure, but a necessary step toward a more sane housing market.

[Warpy]

3. It sure ruined all that house porn on HGTV!

I remember watching all those sweet young families a couple of years ago when I first got the dish and wondering just how many investment bankers or drug dealers were living in California so that they could afford those $500,000 and up bungalows. Now I know that most of them had iffy loans and have either read the writing on the wall and cut their losses early or they've lost everything.

It's just so unbearably sad.

[madaboutharry]

2. The market was completely out of control in CA

Property was at one point selling for insane prices. My parents purchased their first house in Los Angeles in the 1950's for $14,000. That house, about 1100 square feet, once sold for over $650,000.
I don't care about appreciation. No way could anyone argue that was a house worth $650,000.

[Clovis Sangrail]

4. at one point?

it still is selling for crazy money in some places

[devilgrrl]

5. Dropping 32% in Palmdale!

How about LA, San Fran or anywhere else near the coast?