The Union Tribune follows up on the Dataquick numbers. "San Diego County housing prices took their biggest-ever spring stumble last month as the median sales price fell to $490,000, down $15,000 from the previous month. The median price was just $2,000 higher than it had been a year earlier and was down 5 percent from the record level of $518,000 it reached in November, according to DataQuick."

"Sales were down for the 23rd straight month and inventories of unsold homes topped 19,800, a 7.1-month supply."

"The decline in prices was concentrated in new housing, a historically volatile category. For newly built homes, condos and condo conversions, the median dropped from $495,500 in April to $424,000 in May, the second largest drop in that category since DataQuick began its record keeping in 1988. January saw a $104,000 drop from December."

"University of San Diego economist Alan Gin said the sudden decline probably reflects builders' discounts on asking prices and similar reductions at the many apartment complexes that have been converted to condominiums."

"On a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis, DataQuick figures showed that 51 areas had higher overall prices than a year ago, while 36 were lower. Among the significant increases in the single-family-resale category was 66.8 percent in La Jolla to nearly $2.4 million on 26 sales and 20.8 percent in Poway to $777,500 on 50 resales."

"Among significant decreases in the new category was a 60.3 percent drop in Rancho Bernardo's 92127 ZIP code area, where prices dropped from a median $1.2 million on 29 homes in May 2005 to $491,250 on 66 homes this May."

"On one cul-de-sac in 4S Ranch, located in that ZIP code, seven of the 13 homes are on the market, all priced at $1 million or more. Homeowner Jennifer Harper, whose 4,432-square-foot house is on the market for $1.25 million, said her husband has a job transfer opportunity in Denver. 'If our house sells for what we want, we're going to go,' she said. 'And if it doesn't, we're going to stay here because we actually love 4S Ranch. But we just can't pass up an opportunity to move somewhere different.'"

"Her agent, Scott Voak, said it is simply a coincidence that half the block is selling, some to move up to even more expensive homes in the area, others to take new jobs elsewhere."

"A couple in Mission Hills wants to move east but can't until their buyers, a couple in North Park, sells theirs. 'We were a little apprehensive and saw a lot of homes on the market,' said Mara Conner, who with husband Fabio Tucci wants to move to Mission Hills for better schools for their two preschoolers."

"In El Cajon, Michael Lopes and his wife, Sarab, put their 1,147-square-foot town house on the market in October and had no offers. Then they hired Calvin Goad last month, cut the asking price from $380,000 to $348,000 as he suggested and now are getting interest.'He's terrific; he's generated a lot of activity,' Lopes said of Goad."

"Horace Hogan, president of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, said builders are cutting back on building new homes. If they continued building at a quicker pace, he said, builders would lose money because of the amount they have spent already on land and materials."

"Gin, the USD economist, said he would call the present market a 'plateau,' following the proverbial 'soft landing.' 'There are two questions,' he said. 'Are we going to fall over the cliff or if we don't, how long is the plateau going to be. I'm not in the 'crash' category. I see things relatively flat for the next couple of years at least.'"