OCTOBER HOUSING NEWS….As California goes, so goes the nation?
The Southern California housing market beat a fast retreat in October as the median price plunged 8% to relinquish two years of gains and sales volume slipped to a record low, data released today show.
The median price paid for a Southland home last month was $444,000….12% below the peak of $505,000 reached last spring and was the lowest since April 2005, DataQuick said. As prices continue to slide, said DataQuick President Marshall Prentice, “a lot of potential buyers seem to be waiting this one out.”
“It’s hard to buy a home when you think it might lose value, especially when you have to borrow money to do it,” he said.
Hopefully California isn’t a bellwether on housing. I don’t really want the rest of the country to share our pain on this. But what I want and what’s going to happen are two different things. Unfortunately, all the evidence suggests that prices still have a long way to go before they stabilize.
