Ding Dong - DataQuick: Price Drop Exceeds 50% Off Peak; Unemployment Tops 8%

From the Sacramento Bee:

MDA DataQuick said Thursday, the median sale price for a home in Sacramento County dropped to $185,000 last month. That was the lowest level since September 2001 and represented a $10,000 drop in one month. Prices have fallen $105,000, or 36 percent, in a year...The DataQuick numbers show that the median sale price in Sacramento County has fallen by 52 percent from the August 2005 peak of $387,000.
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In a normal market, when sales are hot at the low end, it filters up to more expensive homes. Someone sells a starter home and then moves up to fancier digs, raising the prices for expensive properties. But when the sellers of low-end homes are mainly banks, there's no such upward pressure on the pricier homes, [DataQuick's Andrew] LePage said.
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"There's really no better time to buy than right now," [John] Arvanitis...of Sunshine Vista Mortgage Co. in Citrus Heights...said.

Data by county
Data by zip

Related post: Ding Dong - YOY Price Declines Arrive in Sacramento

From the Sacramento Business Journal:

The Sacramento-area’s jobless rate increased to the highest level in almost 15 years, as construction companies continued to cut payroll and a less-than-cheery holiday season created fewer temporary positions in November, according to a report released Friday. The four-county region’s jobless rate increased to 8.1 percent last month, compared to 7.9 percent in October and 5.6 percent in November 2007, according to the state Employment Development Department. It’s the highest rate since 8.4 percent in February 1994.

SacBee: Unemployment by county

More waves...From the Sacramento Bee:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is telling labor unions that it will order two-day-a-month unpaid furloughs for state employees beginning in February to help the state save cash amid its budget crisis. Bruce Blanning, executive director of the Professional Engineers in California Government, said he received a call this morning from Department of Personnel Administration officials informing the union of the impending executive order...The furloughs would apply to all general fund and special fund employees and amount to about a 10 percent pay cut....The unpaid furloughs would begin in February and continue through June 2010....

DPA officials told Blanning the governor would seek a 10 percent elimination of jobs in the state workforce, which could result in thousands of layoffs.

From the Sacramento Bee:

When the housing market soared in Sacramento a few years ago, many cities, counties and school districts hiked fees for a new house, with some soaring into the $80,000s and $90,000s...What did $90,000 matter if a house sold for $470,000 or more to a buyer using exotic financing?...[M]uch of the new home market is [now] back in the $200,000s. At those prices, builders say, the fees make it hard to break even.
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On Tuesday, Woodland became the first city in the region – and possibly first in the state, according to the California Building Industry Association – to...rethink impact fees in light of a devalued housing market. Typically, builders pay about $90,000 in city, county and school fees to build a house in Woodland. But with a 4-0 vote, the City Council cut its $69,000 fee to $54,000 – a 20 percent discount of $15,000 per house.

From the Sacramento Bee:

The Sacramento region's population growth rate continued to drop during 2008, falling to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to state figures released Wednesday.
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People tend to move when they see opportunities. At the beginning of the decade, many looked to California and thought they had a better shot here than elsewhere, said Howard Roth, the state's chief economist. Now, they may compare California to their home state and think, "Why bother?" That trend occurred in Sacramento County, too, where about 3,000 more people left for other areas than arrived from them, state figures show.
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[A]long with the rash of foreclosed homes, low growth eases demands on the housing market, bad news for homeowners but good news for home buyers.

From the Sacramento Business Journal:

The real estate decline that has hurt homebuilders is also punishing nurseries that grow plants for the new yards...Several growers in Southern California have talked about grinding up plants and using them for potting soil, he said. One large grower, who has more than 200 acres of plants, might grind up 15 acres.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Rio Vista began to see the trouble last year, when property-tax revenue began to falter...Rio Vista has cut a third of its city workers and slashed its recreation budget to $29,000 from about $250,000. The city is looking into selling more than 100 acres of its land for revenue.
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Isleton's city manager, Bruce Pope, says the town owes $950,000 for an assortment of services including trash pickup and electricity. With Isleton's operating budget of about $1 million, interest on unpaid bills could overpower the city's budget, he says. Some county leaders are pressuring Mr. Pope to dissolve Isleton. But the town, with about 1,000 residents, doesn't have the money to cover the fees to do so, he says.

Weekend reading [pdf] (with lots of fun data) via Calculated Risk.