Southern California
Proposed Project in L.A. Declared 'Dead'
[Hanley Wood]
The 553-acre Los Lomas project in North Los Angeles County "is dead, as far as we're concerned."
That's the assessment of Mitch Englander, chief of staff for councilman Grieg Smith--whose opposition to this mixed-use development was the impetus behind the Los Angeles City Council's 10 to 5 vote last week to halt its review of this project, which has been in the works since 2002.
U.S. home prices tumble 11.4% in a year, index finds
[Los Angeles Times - Top News]
The L.A.-Orange County and San Diego regions experienced declines of nearly 17%. Home prices across the nation continued to fall at a record...
Are you upside down in your home?
[The Orange County Register - O.C. Real Estate News]
As values fall, increasing numbers of O.C. homeowners owe more than their homes are worth.
Dr. Housing Bubble Blog: The Abyss is Deep: The Housing Abyss is Deep: 4 Major Reasons Why Housing in Southern California is Nowhere Near a Bottom.
[Dr. Housing Bubble Blog]
There seems to be a crescendo rising from the Southland that we are now nearing a market bottom in real estate. The argument goes a little something like this: prices have fallen significantly, inventory is still at peak levels...
Desirable Yes, Immune No
[Piggington's Econo-Almanac - ]
For years, people claimed that because San Diego was such a desirable place to live, local real estate was immune to price declines. We know how that turned out. Yet these days that same argument is often applied to San Diego's more upscale areas.
Welcome to subprime's ghost town
[Latest financial news - CNNMoney.com] 
The subprime mortgage meltdown has shaken the entire U.S. economy. But nowhere might the impact be as stark as Irvine, California, a planned community nestled between Los Angeles and San Diego...Next month, some Silicon Valley property owners will see the assessed value of their homes drop more than at any other time in at least a decade. Real estate news and recent sales Current listings | Open homes
Mar. 28--Sacramento-area home builders are being extraordinarily cautious this year about starting new homes.
For years, people claimed that because San Diego was such a desirable place to live, local real estate was immune to price declines. We know how that turned out. Yet these days that same argument is often applied to San Diego's more upscale areas.
It seems, at first blush, to hold up. High-end San Diego homes have certainly weathered the housing bust far better than their lower-priced counterparts. This can be seen in last week's Case-Shiller home price graphs, which show that the high end of the housing market has fallen in price less than half as much as the low end. And the Case-Shiller high tier -- which aggregates price movements of the most expensive one-third of San Diego homes -- understates some notable resilience in swankier sub-markets such as Point Loma, Mission Hills, La Jolla, and much of the North County Coastal region.
The relative strength in these areas has led to the widespread conclusion that the high-end markets are desirable enough to be more or less invulnerable to the housing bust.
I am skeptical of this interpretation.
read more at voiceofsandiego.org
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The subprime mortgage meltdown has shaken the entire U.S. economy. But nowhere might the impact be as stark as Irvine, California, a planned community nestled between Los Angeles and San Diego.
Money reports from California. “The subprime mortgage meltdown has shaken the entire U.S. economy. But nowhere might the impact be as stark as Irvine, California. A year ago at this time, Irvine was home to 18 subprime lenders, including many of the leaders in the field, such as New Century Financial and Option One. Then, in what seemed like the blink of an eye, 4,100 good-paying white c...
Housing starts in February, as measured by building permits issued, dropped 61.3 percent in the Sacramento region compared with the same month last year, according to the California Building Industry Association using data from the Construction Industry Research Board.
New-home construction was down 60 percent in the Oakland-Fremont-Hayward metropolitan statistical area in February compared with a year earlier, according to the California Building Industry Association.
Sacramento-area home builders are being extraordinarily cautious this year about starting new homes. That's evident in the newest count of building permits taken out at area city halls.
[Non-Dramatic Shingles] 35 Consecutive Months Of Foreclosures In Sand Diego
[Matrix]
Source: Slate I hate sour candy. So here something sweet to chew on…and it’s in San Diego. I don’t think this is the candy that gives you shingles. The rate of mortgage failures in San Diego County didn’t rise...
Big future for housing downtown
[L.A. Times - Business]
Downtown should be the best place to live in the near future. The near-term housing effects are more a reaction to the mortgage crisis than the viability of downtown. ("A cooldown in downtown housing," March 13.)
As Southland counties reassess home values, tax bills fall
[L.A. Times - Business]
Owners benefit, but already cash-strapped governments will see less-than-expected revenue. The tumbling housing market has prompted county tax...
