[Photo of Leslie Appleton-Young, California Association of Realtors]
You know the drill by now, it's not so much about the numbers as about the spin.
Home prices are still holding up in California, first of all because the job market is still respectable," said Lawrence Yun, senior economist for the National Association of Realtors. "The technology job market in the Bay Area, in San Francisco and San Jose, is really coming around strongly, and those are high-paying jobs.No, it's because houses are selling well in the multi-millions instead of the the multi-thousands. One might argue that without the high end of the market, things would look stagnant at best. Plus the finest in realtor doublespeak, which turns out to not be that confusing after a little penetration:You've got sellers who are slow to accept the new market realities and buyers that are just kind of waiting for a market that I don't think they're going to see," said Leslie Appleton-Young, chief economist for the California Association of RealtorsSo which is it, Leslie? The NAR's agenda is to sell houses, so Leslie's job as an economist is to convince sellers to drop their unrealistic expectations and sell now, and to persuade buyers to forget their hopes of a better deal. And buy. Quick, dammit, before someone misses another payment on their Mercedes.
· big drop in US home prices/record decline nationwide [SF Gate]