'The home-building industry is not in a recession. It's in a depression.'

From the Sacramento Bee:

Rancho Cordova-based home builder Reynen & Bardis Communities Inc. and a dozen related entities owe more than $1.9 million in late property taxes and penalties, Sacramento County property tax records show. The taxes, which were due in December, are the latest fallout from the real estate downturn and one that has sent a ripple through the city of Elk Grove, where the unpaid taxes and penalties exceed $1.3 million.
...
Observers blamed the economy for the plight of the cash-strapped company, as well as that of other builders in similar fiscal straits. "People are talking about whether we're in a recession," said John Hodgson, project manager for Elk Grove's 1,900-acre Laguna Ridge planning area, where Reynen & Bardis entities have large holdings. "The home-building industry is not in a recession. It's in a depression."
...
"It's a perfect storm of very unfortunate economic events that no one could have possibly predicted," she [Michele McCormick, spokeswoman for Reynen & Bardis Communities] said.

From the Sacramento Bee:

For thousands of people shut out of the housing market as prices doubled between 2001 and 2006, bank-owned homes are real estate's new gold rush. With more than 10,000 foreclosures last year in the eight-county capital region, the plentiful inventory of bank-owned homes has fueled a mini-boom in buying...In the last two months, buyers in the Sacramento region have scooped up more than 2,000 foreclosed homes, a 10-fold increase from the same period a year ago, according to DataQuick Information Systems in La Jolla.

From USA Today (hat tip TMTGM):

Taking shelter with parents isn't uncommon for young people in their 20s, especially when the job market is poor. But now the slumping economy and the credit crunch are forcing some children to do so later in life — even in middle age.
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Kim Foss Erickson, a financial planner in Roseville, Calif., north of Sacramento, said she has never seen older children, even those in their 50s, depending so much on their parents as in the last six months. "This is not like, 'OK, my son just graduated from college and needs to move back in' type of thing," she said. "These are 40- and 50-year-old children of my clients that they're helping out."

From the Stockton Record:

San Joaquin County is taking a breather. The county's dizzying population growth, much of it fueled by Bay Area transplants looking for more-affordable housing, has slowed considerably in the past two years.

New census figures show that in the first seven years of the decade, the county population ballooned by just over 19 percent, adding more than 107,000 residents. But interestingly, most of that growth occurred from 2000 to 2005. In the past two years, the net increase was only about 13,300 people.