• Posted on Friday, July 18, 2008

tool name

close
tool goes here

Home sales rise in Calif. for 3rd month as banks slash prices

logout | member center
By Jim Wasserman | Sacramento Bee

For the third straight month, Sacramneto-area home sales climbed above figures for the same time last year, a welcome indicator in a region searching for the bottom of its long housing slump. But median prices continued to slide.

The 3,922 June escrow closings in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties were the most since June 2006, DataQuick Information Systems reported Thursday.

Heavily discounted repossessed homes, however, have pushed median sales prices across the region to 4 1/2-, five- and even almost six-year lows, according to DataQuick statistics.

Analysts say buyers are reaping rewards of a steep falloff in prices across the last year. Driving the phenomenon are thousands of foreclosures and bank repossessions.

Read the full story at sacbee.com.

  • del.icio.us
  • |
  • yahoo
  • |
  • Digg it

ECONOMY IN TURMOIL

economy in turmoil

Read McClatchy coverage of the economic pain Americans around the country are feeling, from Florida to California to Alaska.

ECONOMY QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

hall & pugh

McClatchy correspondents Kevin G. Hall (left) and Tony Pugh are available to answer your questions about the economic meltdown at home and abroad, and what's in store for ordinary Americans.

Q&A: THE HOUSING CRISIS

Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Economy.com, is took questions from McClatchy readers about the nation's deep housing crisis. His book, "Financial Shock," offers a 360-degree look at what caused the crisis, what mistakes were made and who made them. It offers a way forward to prevent future crises.

Q&A: TERMINAL CHAOS

U.S. air travel these days is about as fun as a trip to the dentist. Departure delays are rampant, bags often miss the flight you've caught and rising jet fuel prices have major airlines charging to check a bag. In his new book "Terminal Chaos," George Donohue, a professor and former high-level Federal Aviation Administration official, explains why our system of air travel is broken and what can be done to fix it. Read the responses.

Q&A: THE THREE TRILLION DOLLAR WAR

For two weeks, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes, authors of "The Three Trillion Dollar War," fielded questions about the cost of the Iraq war and its impact on the U.S. economy. They're not taking new questions, but they're still posting answers to ones they've already received. Read their responses.