"Fear Is In The Air"

From the Associated Press via Forbes:

U.S. home prices fell 4.8 percent in the second quarter compared with a year ago, easily a new record low, according to a government report.
...
Prices in the weakest markets, he said, have receded to late-2005 levels, plummeting by more than 30 percent in two cities: Merced and Stockton, Calif.

According to the government, Sacramento home prices dropped 17.7% over the last year. That compares to a decline of 14.6% during the entire 1990s housing bust.

From Home Front:

I called Kathryn Boyce of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, who said [Beezer]...has moved to smaller space on Roseville Parkway. With so many fewer staffers in this greatly-cooled market they didn't need the big building anymore. The office is being run now out of Southern California, she said.

From the SF Chronicle (hat tip Anon1137):

Ken Rosen, chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at UC Berkeley, had a more bearish take on Monday's numbers. "It doesn't reflect a recovering housing market; it reflects a broken housing market," he said. "It's a reflection of the fact that foreclosed homes are being liquidated at very low prices."
...
Rosen believes that investors, not actual intended occupants, are buying up many if not most of the distressed properties in the hardest hit areas. That will do little to stabilize the markets in those areas, especially if prices fall further and foreclosures continue to climb, he said.

From the LA Times:

State and federal officials are unable to say how many Section 8 renters have been affected by the wave of foreclosures sweeping the country, but local housing authorities say the number is significant -- and growing. Sacramento County had fewer than a dozen people seeking new Section 8 homes in June because of foreclosures. In July, the number was 100.

From the Sacramento Bee:

Not to be too dramatic about it, but fear is in the air. You don't have to lose your home to understand the woes of the housing market. You don't have to get laid off to see the effects of downsizing on your neighbors and friends. In a country busy doing the fear dance, it can be hard not to wallow in worries yourself. So maybe smart folks stay home, conserve gasoline and make do with leftovers and hand-me-downs. They take care of their families and pinch pennies.

In short, they channel our Depression-era forebears – who, it must be noted, are not shopping at the Roseville Hospice Thrift Store in the numbers they used to, either. "A lot of our customer base are people who don't need anything, but they like to come and browse," says Watson. "A lot of them are Depression generation. They've stopped coming in because they don't yet see an end in sight to our economic problems."