Do you think housing prices are STILL going down in California? (San Francisco: lenders, broker)

[goodbyehollywood]

Venice, MDR-- homes still selling, prices still trending up. It might take a little longer to get the price (not always), but prices are holding.

[shannon94]

wow..are you really going to use those two as examples? lol

[goodbyehollywood]

Not examples, per se; I'm merely making a point-- CA is a big state, L.A. is a big city, and prices aren't falling everywhere.

Plus those are the only two places in L.A. I have any interest in living.

[wclac]

Originally Posted by goodbyehollywood

Not examples, per se; I'm merely making a point-- CA is a big state, L.A. is a big city, and prices aren't falling everywhere.

Plus those are the only two places in L.A. I have any interest in living.

What about Westchester and their prices?

[JTGJR]

More fuel for the fire from Yahoo Finance and the Wall Street Journal Online:

Los Angeles
L.A. is an anomaly. No real urban core exists. The area is just a sprawling string of suburbs that run together.And most of that sprawl is bathed in red ink. Median prices in communities throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties -- the distant, inland suburbs that are at the epicenter of the region's subprime and foreclosure crises -- are down, often sharply.

Lower-priced homes in tony Palm Springs have lost about 24%, though more-expensive homes are up slightly. Less-affluent cities such as Ontario, Chino and Rancho Cucamonga are all down between 15% and 31%. Los Angeles County, Orange County to the south and Ventura County to the north are suffering equally.

The only notable area of strength: high-end real estate. L.A.'s Westside, home to affluent neighborhoods such as Brentwood and Westwood, "tends to be more insulated because this is where people with money want to be," says Madison Offenhauser, regional director in Los Angeles for Keller Williams Realty.

Median prices in Brentwood are up 16%. The Hollywood Hills, up 26% to a median price of more than $2.1 million. Rancho Palos Verdes and the Palos Verdes peninsula, up 17%. Parts of Newport Beach, one of Orange County's poshest addresses, are up as much as 67% to $2.75 million. The coastal village of Laguna Beach is up 6%.

Lee Ann Canaday, owner of the Canaday Group, a Laguna Beach real-estate firm, says "almost every deal I've done this year" in Laguna and Newport Beach has had multiple offers.

[goodbyehollywood]

Originally Posted by LAFan

What about Westchester and their prices?

No clue about Westchester. I don't watch it... just that small Venice/MDR pocket, which apparently everybody else in L.A. wants as well.

[LALady]

Originally Posted by LASam

I don't think housing prices are STILL going down... I know they are going down!

L.A. Land : Los Angeles Times : L.A. home prices falling, and faster (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/04/la-home-prices.html - broken link)

They sure have!

[moxiezbug]

Everyone is talking about SoCal. What about SF and the surrounding Bay Area? Will they be subject to the same correction, or not as severe?

[sheri257]

Originally Posted by motoman

Again, I can still rent for half what it would cost me to buy, so why in the world would I buy?

Depending on how the numbers break down ... this could be one reason:

Try this rent versus buy calculator.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/bu...T_GRAPHIC.html

[desertdawgx]

No area is going to go unscathed as prices return to their historical values.