L.A. Times: Local Home Sales Down 25% From Last Year

This September 19, 2006 L.A. Times short piece by Jesus Sanchez confirms what the bubblewatchers have been feeling in their bones. August 2006 home sales (including condominiums) for Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Ventura, San Bernadino, and Riverside counties are down 25.3% from August 2005, for a total of 25,628 sale units.

We can look at the various county data here:

                  % YOY     $$$
County            Median   Median    
Los Angeles        4.7%   $517,000
Orange             2.6%   $633,000
Riverside          7.0%   $415,000
San Bernadino      6.1%   $365,000
San Diego         -2.2%   $415,000
Ventura            1.0%   $592,000

The only socionomic item to note is that DataQuick analysts, when describing the "moaning" in the market, and observing that prices have doubled in 4-5 years, assume the market will "keep" the great majority or all of that gain. In credit-induced bubbles, virtually all the gain is erased and then some, in an "overshoot" to the down side. We have a long wait ahead of us to see if this rule holds up.

When DQNews posts the August zip code charts I'll post the monthly beach city median charts.