The Sacramento Bee reports from California. "Here's the forecast from two more experts on the housing market: The slump is likely to continue through the rest of this year and most of 2008. April sales numbers show little reason to doubt them. 'I think we're going to be dealing with this all the way through 2008,' Countrywide Home Loans Executive VP Jack Haynes told Sacramento home-building industry representatives."

"Sacramento County's median price of $341,500 compared with $367,250 a year ago; Placer County's median of $450,000 was down from $477,000 last year."

"Timothy Sullivan of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors blamed the market slowdown on tighter lending rules as well as the lack of urgency among other buyers. 'Right now there is fear about housing,' he said. 'There is fear you can't win at housing.'"

The Sacramento Business Journal. "Brokers don't know how long it will be before the tide of foreclosures recedes. Across the Sacramento area, the inventory of homes set for foreclosure sale stands at 2,175, with another 5,274 homes owned by banks or mortgage companies."

"Another 7,000 homeowners are at least 60 days late with their mortgage payments."

"'It's going to be a rough year and a half,' said Michael Lyon, CEO of Lyon Real Estate. He predicted the effects might reach into 2009."

"'If you look at the listings, half of them are short sales,' agent Karen Berkovitz said as she scrolled through a screen showing listings in the Elk Grove area. 'That's scary.'"

"'You have to ask, what do these places have in common? These are areas that grew too fast. This is where the homes were selling in 2005 and 2006, just before the market changed. The buyers bought on impulse,' said broker Carlos Kozlowski."

"The upside, Kozlowski said, is that falling prices means there are people who can now afford to buy a home who couldn't before."

The Union. "Median house prices in Nevada County continued to slip in April compared to prices a year earlier. Real estate agents cited the local effects of a national tightening of credit requirements as part of the cause."

"The county saw 141 house and condominium sales recorded at the county recorder's office for the month, with a median price of $458,000, according to DataQuick. The median price a year ago was $500,000."

"'The prices are coming back to reality,' Realtor John Gibson said. 'I have a whole list of people who are waiting for (the) market to settle out. They're hesitant right now because they don't know if prices will drop.'"

The Valley Voice. "Real estate sources say the existing home resale market is slow this spring, just when it ought to be buzzing. 'We saw a spurt of new loans in April but they have dropped off in May,' says Greg Sherman with AG Mortgage of Visalia."

"'The high level of existing home inventory was last September when there were 2300 homes on the market. Things are really soft out there,' says realtor Brad Maaske of Investors Realty in Visalia. He says that the Fresno market is worse off with 6400 homes available for sale."

"Visalia realtor Ed Evans says he is aware of perhaps 75 homes in the Visalia marketplace that are going through foreclosure and will be sold—in turn likely driving down the market price here more."

"One factor that has affected prices here is that 'we don’t see the number of potential buyers coming from L.A. or the Bay Area looking to buy here because they too can’t sell their homes,' says Maaske."

The Daily News. "Housing affordability for first-time buyers improved slightly in Los Angeles County and across the state in the 2007 first quarter, although prices remained high despite tumbling sales, a trade association said Thursday."

"Jonathan Weiss, senior investment associate at Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, said renting is now less expensive than owning. 'The average monthly payment differential between owning and renting is about $3,000,' he said of the state average."

"Andrew LaPage, an analyst at La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, said that affordability is increasing in areas that have seen an erosion in the median price. This is expected to spread to other areas as the market slump continues."

"'I'm certainly open to the possibility you may see increased affordability in lower cost neighborhoods in the next six to 12 months,' he said."

The Union Tribune. "A record 525 San Diego County dwellings were reclaimed by lenders or sold at auction in April, surpassing the previous record of 433 properties in March."

"There were 1,346 notices of default issued, the first step in the foreclosure process, DataQuick reported yesterday. That was more than double the 554 notices in April 2006."

"Delores Conway, director of the USC Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast, said a rise in the use of adjustable loans during the housing boom has played a significant role in foreclosures today."

"'This is the wild card we were all wondering about,' she said. 'As adjustable mortgages are reset, the question is, 'How many people can afford the payments?'"

"California 'documented the largest foreclosure total of any state for the fourth month in a row,' RealtyTrac said. 'The state's foreclosure activity...was up more than 200 percent from April 2006.'"

The Gilroy Dispatch. "A housing slump that's erased millions in equity will mean lower property taxes for more than 10,000 Santa Clara County homeowners this year."

"While that might strike cash-strapped Silicon Valley residents as good news, it also means school districts, cities and other agencies will lose millions of dollars in revenues."

"'It means less money for everyone,' said David Ginsborg, deputy to the Santa Clara County Assessor. 'And it's not necessarily good news for homeowners. Nobody wants to be losing equity.'"

"'It indicates a softening of the real estate market,' said Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone. 'Properties purchased in the last two or three years have declined in value.'"

"The economic downturn reflects a cooling period in 1995 when close to a third of the county's residential properties were adjusted for lower taxes."

"'A timeline is difficult to do, but it's definitely a cycle,' said Peter Gallo, president of Gilroy-based Gallo & Gallo Real Estate Appraisals, Inc. 'We've seen this before...it's definitely a buyers' market.'"