Cal. sales down 28% in August

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In all the excitement yesterday about The Little House on the Freeway, we missed this one: ‘Home sales decreased 27.8 percent in August in California compared with the same period a year ago, while the median price of an existing home increased 2 percent, the California Association of Realtors reported.’

More from CAR: ‘’While low affordability, tighter underwriting standards and expectations of lower prices continue to pose challenges for the market, the decline in sales accelerated in August as a result of the so-called credit or liquidity crunch that began in July.,’ said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. ‘With credit drying up, even qualified buyers were unable to receive funding for home purchases. ... We expect the impact of the credit crunch to play out over the next several months, and that it will continue to negatively impact sales,’ she said.’

LA numbers: Median sales price was $605,000, a gain of 2.6% over year-ago levels; the number of homes sold in LA fell 23.9% from year-ago levels.

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