Radar Logic: Sacramento Home Prices Fall 28%

From Bloomberg:

Home prices declined in 21 U.S. cities in January, led by Sacramento and Las Vegas, as banks sold foreclosed homes at bargain prices. The price per square foot in Sacramento, the capital of California, dropped 28 percent to $166 from a year earlier, according to a report [pdf] released today by New York-based Radar Logic Inc., a real estate data company.

From the Central Valley Business Times:

One of the Central Valley’s largest community banks, Merced-based Capital Corp of the West, which operates as County Bank, saw its bottom line plunge along with housing values and foreclosed borrowers in 2007. The company says it had a net loss of $3.6 million for the year, compared to a profit of $22.6 million in 2006. It’s the first annual loss in the company’s 30-year history.
...
"The largest factor contributing to the increased provision was the rapid decline in real estate values in California's Central Valley in fourth quarter 2007...." the company says..."The scope and rate of the decline of the real estate market were completely unexpected," says Donald Briggs, Jr., a director of the bank. "No economic forecast predicted its rapid collapse during the fourth quarter of 2007."

From the LA Times:

Wachovia Corp. signaled that it may no longer offer some Californians the controversial "option ARM" mortgages that give borrowers the choice of paying so little that their balances actually rise. In a memo Monday, Wachovia's top California managers told employees that the loans would no longer be offered in 17 California counties where property values have declined the most, including Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego, plus the Central Valley.
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If Wachovia cuts back, it could further disrupt distressed housing markets where the recent tightening of credit has compounded the problems caused by easy-money lending earlier this decade. "This product was the last remaining hope for the sub-prime borrower," said broker John Diamond of Bancorp Funding in Chino.

From the Stockton Record:

Five Chinese real estate officials on a three-week, coast-to-coast tour of the United States spent nearly a week visiting Stockton, which they know is the top foreclosure area in this country...The Chinese officials said they were mostly curious about the subprime meltdown in the United States...More than anything else, he said, "they sounded like they wanted to buy some of these foreclosure homes. They thought they were good deals."

CNBC on Stockton's new home market here and here. (hat tip Jeff)