Median price of SoCal homes plunged 24 pct to 4-year low

sucks to be a speculator

[walkman]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Southern California home values plummeted 24 percent during March, leaving prices at an almost four-year low amid the real estate market's deepening distress.

The median price of homes sold in a six-county region stood at $385,000 in March, a sobering turnaround from the previous year when values had reached a record $505,000, according to data released Tuesday by DataQuick Information Services.

Southern California homes haven't sold for so little since April 2004 when the region's median price stood at $380,000.

[biz.yahoo.com...]
so, in three years prices rose 24%. And the salaries...?

[lawman]

No , they rose a little over 32%. :)

[Sarah Atkinson]

I saw on the news too where banks and Realtors were putting pressure on the appraisers to over appraise houses. They would got to appraisers and say stuff like "if you can't guarantee over x dollars I won't hire you"

[HelenDev]

Sounds similar to what's starting to happen in the UK. House prices have spiralled out of all control over the past five years, and now a small monthly drop constitutes a crisis, apparently.

[your_store]

Figures this would happen *after* I left the area.