Another change in scale

Now that Riverside County has necessitated the opening up of the minus 20 percent to minus 30 percent range in the chart below, it's hard to imagine that any further changes in scale will be needed. But, then again, you never know.
From year-ago levels, the median home price in Riverside County plunged 20.1 percent, outpacing the decline in next-door neighbor San Bernardino County at minus 19.3 percent. Price declines of this magnitude were unthinkable just a couple years ago.

DataQuick reported the latest on Southern California real estate sales the other day and, while this is normally a very slow time of the year, the January sales total for the entire SoCal area dipped below 10,000 for the first time in 20 years. Overall, sales were down 24.6 percent from last month and down 44.9 percent from January of last year.
Marshall "almost all if not all of those gains are here to stay" Prentice, President of DataQuick, had these comments:

We don't know how much of this downturn is driven by market fundamentals, and how much is due to turmoil in the lending industry. The market has been sending mixed signals since August, and it's virtually impossible to see trends and make predictions. Our sense is that quite a bit of activity is on hold, we just don't know how long it can be kept on hold.

Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say, "it's impossible to see good trends" because lower sales volume and lower sales prices are clear to see.

It's been quite a fall from grace for all Southern California counties - the $520,000 median price in Orange County remains the only area still above the half-million dollar mark, but that seems likely to change in the months ahead.
This spring and summer should be quite interesting as motivated sellers, bank owned properties, and short sales compete for a dwindling number of buyers.