Not So Soft Landing: Placer Median Price Down 15.8% Since Peak

From the Sacramento Bee:

The slowdown continues.

Capital-area home sales and prices were generally lower in February than a year ago -- itself gloomier than the year before. February sales numbers released Thursday show a small numerical increase over January, but remained well below the 3,113 sales in February 2006, according to La Jolla-based researcher DataQuick Information Systems.

Collectively, 2,534 new and existing homes and condominiums closed escrow during the month in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. The sales reflect escrow closings of buyer deals begun 30 days to 45 days earlier.

The month's 18.6 percent sales decline from last year compared with a similar 19.8 percent year-over-year fall in the six counties of metropolitan Los Angeles and a 7.9 percent drop in the nine-county Bay Area, DataQuick reported.
...
According to Thursday's DataQuick figures, Sacramento County's median $350,000 price tag for existing homes was down just 1.4 percent from the previous year, the lowest year-to-year decline since June.

Placer County showed the first year-over-year rise in home sales since March 2005, while median sales prices for existing homes fell to $425,000, lowest since December 2004. The county's peak median price -- the point where half cost more and half less -- was $505,000 in August 2005.

Data chart here.