More Tumbling Ahead

Factoring in job losses, overbuilding, and stagnating rents (at least downtown), experts quoted in the LA Times believe that home prices in Southern California will continue to fall through the rest of 2009. Unfortunately, the story doesn't break down Los Angeles-area specific prices, so who knows how much places like foreclosure-heavy Palmdale are dragging down the median home price in Southern California. Via the paper: "At the end of November, Southern California's median home sales price had fallen to $285,000, from $435,000 in November 2007. If median prices were to continue falling at that pace, they would be below $200,000 a year from now. But even bearish forecasters don't expect so severe a decline. More likely, prices in Southern California will settle in late 2009 at a level roughly 55% below their peak, said Christopher Thornberg, a Los Angeles economist." [LA Times]