Annette Haddad writes at the LA Times, "Southern California homeowners, say goodbye to your good friend: Double-digit price appreciation. For the first time in 4½ years, the region's median home price rose less than 10% year over year, data released today showed. It was the most dramatic sign yet that the Southland's housing market is coming to the end of its long-running boom."

"What's more, sales in April declined 21.3% from a year ago and were down 16% from the previous month, according to DataQuick. It was the fifth straight month of declines"

"The housing market 'is moving in the direction we thought it would,' said John Karevoll, DataQuick's chief analyst. 'It's all part of a normal end game of the cycle.'"

"The year-over-year sales decline was the steepest since April 1995, when home purchases slowed 24.0 percent. Last month's sales count was the lowest for any April since April 2001."

"'March and April have shown us that the boom phase of this cycle is behind us, so now it's just a question of how the cycle ends,' said Marshall Prentice, DataQuick president."

"Orange County home sales activity hit an 11-year low in April. Just 3,276 homes sold last month, down 28 percent from a year ago. That's the slowest April since 1995 and the sixth consecutive month that sales fell on a year-over-year basis."

"The number of houses for sale in Bakersfield topped 3,000 in April, the most the market's seen since the mid-1990s when the state was steeped in a recession. Roughly 3,200 houses sat on the market last month, up from about 770 at the same time last year, according to appraiser Gary Crabtree. That's compared to about 2,480 homes for sale in 1994, shortly after the market took a drastic tumble."

"With so many new homes built in recent years, the number for sale at any given time is also bound to be higher, Crabtree said. Existing house prices dipped about 6 percent during the winter months. Prices picked back up in the first few months of this year but have continued to fluctuate. The market has leveled off, and 'it's taking longer to sell,' Crabtree said. 'That's no surprise.'"

"'Looking to buy it's great, but looking to sell it's the pits,' said local agent Mary Ann Mallory. Sellers are accepting offers lower than what they asked for and sometimes helping buyers with $4,000 or $5,000 in closing costs, Mallory said."

"New construction homes are still in big demand, which is contributing to the glut of houses, said agent Chuck Dawson. 'They're just cranking them out as fast as they can,' Dawson said."

"Many new-homebuyers are moving up from existing houses that they then put on the market, he said. As older homes continue to languish on the market, the prices of new construction will likely also go down, he said."

"Homebuilders hate to cut prices for fear of torching everyone's property values and setting off stories about weakness in housing. But they know real estate is cooling, so they are advertising goodies galore. And now there are signs that the taboo against price-cutting is lifting."

"In Sacramento, local builders say that at least one of the big national outfits is done playing 'the incentive game' and will shortly cut prices."