The Union Tribune reports on San Diego's housing bubble. "California's population growth last year continued to slow as more people exited the state than moved here, fueled in part by the steady rise in already high housing prices. San Diego County posted its slowest rate of population growth in a decade."

"'I think the rose is off of California as the land of opportunity,' said Ed Shaffer, senior demographer with the San Diego Association of Governments. 'What's changed is we're not noticing an increase in people leaving, but instead, there are fewer people coming here from within the U.S.,' Howard Roth, chief economist for the Department of Finance speculated. 'The first thing that comes to mind is housing prices.'"

The Sacramento Bee. "Lately, Sacramento County can hardly replace residents as fast as it loses them. Last year, the county's population grew at a slow pace not seen since the late 1990s. The trend hit most surrounding counties and the rest of the state, too. Ditto for California as a whole, lower domestic migration brought down the growth rate. California lost slightly more people to other states than it drew last year."

"People considering a move here are now wondering 'whether this is paradise,' said Rob Wassmer, professor at California State University, Sacramento. 'It's still positive. (The growth rate) is more than other parts of the country. But I don't think it's surprising that it's going down.'"

"Wassmer and several other economic and demographic experts agree about the main cause of the trend: rising home prices."

No link is available for this New Times story. "Bill Seavey is tired of trying to sell his Grover Beach home. It's been on the market since last July, and the one offer he got was so much lower than his original asking price that he decided to turn it down. That was in November, and he says now he wishes he'd taken the offer because he hasn't had another one since."

"And he's continued to lower the price, to no avail. He's decided to try a a 'round robin' auction on March 18. If things go as planned, Seavey's home will sell at a competitive price. In the current 'soft market' this might seem like an unreasonably high goal for a home seller to have, but Seavey says that this is exactly the kind of market his method is mean for, and it's a win-win situation for both the buyer and the seller."

And from the Bakersfield Californian. "Bakersfield's real estate market may be cooling, but it's still ranked among the nation's top 20 metropolitan areas for house price appreciation. Local prices began leveling off last summer and have dipped slightly in recent months. In January, Bakersfield's median house price was $277,591, a 4.8 percent dip from the month before, according to data from local appraiser Gary Crabtree."

"'It's too early for us to tell if this is a permanent trend or if this is just a typical winter market,' he said. The number of houses on the market has now climbed to nearly 2,800, up from around 800 in June."

"Some sellers have slashed their asking prices, while others have started offering buyer incentives. Investors hoping to make a quick turnaround for a big gain are also losing interest."

"Still, Bakersfield is fortunate, said real estate agent Jon Busby. 'It's not going to plummet like maybe other areas may,' said Busby."