San Fernando Valley Real Estate Drop

The L.A. Times reports:

Good afternoon. Headlines, highlights and lowlights from the Southland Regional Association of Realtors' press release on 2007 home sales in the Valley:

--The number of homes sold in 2007 dropped 34.9% from 2006 levels.
--Sales of single-family homes in December 2007 were down 51.6% from December 2006 levels.
--Median price of homes sold in December '07 was $480,000, a decline of 14.3% from the December '06 median of $560,000.
--Total 2007 sales, of 6,271 single-family homes, is well below the previous low -- 7,774 in 1992. Annual Valley sales in this cycle peaked at 13,878 in 2003.

"Sales are down and prices are soft, but people have to be shaken out of their attitude that prices will plunge dramatically," said Mary Funk, president of the SRAR. "I just do not think resale prices will go down nearly as much as some people believe. There is no bell that goes off when the market hits the top of bottom of the cycle, so anyone who needs a home and is waiting to catch a steal may be disappointed and may miss an opportunity."

Added Jim Link, the association's CEO, "... there are too many prospective buyers who think prices should be much, much lower, and think they can snag a super bargain."

More: SRAR stats show that, in the last housing slump, median single-family sales prices in the Valley peaked at $245,000 in Nov. 1989, and bottomed out six years later, at $155,000, in Nov. 1995 -- a decline of 37% spread over 72 months. Prices did not bounce off the bottom quickly -- they remained at or near $155,000 for 15 months.

In this housing slump, median single-family sales prices in the Valley peaked at $655,000, in June 2007, and fell to $537,000 by December -- a decline of 18% in six months.

Look at those numbers.