The California Housing Decline is Worse than I Thought

This comes via the Los Angeles Times. The median house price in California fell almost $210,000 in a single year. Wow!

California's housing market continued its historic decline in May, as a flood of foreclosed homes for sale drove down the median price paid for a single-family home by a stunning 35% from year-earlier levels, the California Assn. of Realtors reported today.

The median price paid for a single-family home in the state dropped by almost $210,000, from $594,530 in May 2007 to $384,840 in May 2008, the association reported. That drop represents a decline of $3,800 per week, or $549 per day, and is the highest ever measured by the association. The price decline appeared to be accelerating from April to May, as median prices dropped by 4.7% in that period.

“The statewide median price declined 35.3% to $384,840 in May, a record for year-to-year percentage decreases in the median, reflecting the effect of large numbers of short sales and foreclosures in the market,” said association Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young.

Update: After looking at S&P's constant quality index, which does not show quite as big of a drop, I suspect that part of the $210,000 drop recorded by the California Realtors is due to a change in the mix of housing that is sold.