The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "Bay Area home sales continued their downward slide in May, with fewer properties changing hands and the mix of sales tilting toward higher-priced houses. In the nine-county area, 5,487 existing single-family homes were sold in May, down 17.4 percent from May 2006, according to DataQuick."

"'Sales are really low; you'd have to set the clock back 12 years to find another May with lower sales,' said Andrew LePage, an analyst with DataQuick."

"Realtor Saraya Motley is selling four condos in Oakland. The seller has cut between $50,000 and $60,000 off the price of each unit, which now range from $299,000 to $369,000. The lower prices generated lots of interest and one accepted offer, but two other offers fell through because the buyers could not qualify for a loan, she said."

"Tighter lending standards 'are really affecting the bottom 20 percent of the market right now,' Motley said. 'The buyers don't qualify because the whole bottom of the market really dropped out with the subprime issue.'"

The Mercury News. "Fewer Santa Clara County homes changed hands last month than during any May since the dot-com collapse. While the county's median price increased from May 2006, it fell from April's record high."

"Two years of low sales volume show 'a housing market with very few willing buyers at these prices,' said Stephen Levy of the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. 'I don't see volume picking up very much without a price adjustment.'"

"He also attributed buoyant median prices to the change in which types of homes are selling, saying of the apparent increase, 'It's not real, and it's not going to continue.'"

"For example, agent David Martz listed a house on San Jose's East Side in April at $599,950, below the sales prices of comparable homes, he said, but there's been 'no activity.' The East Side has some of the county's highest mortgage default rates. The recent unavailability of no-money-down financing is choking off sales to first-timers there, agents say, and driving down prices."

"'There are certain areas of the valley and price points that are just getting creamed,' Martz said."

The Contra Costa Times. "In Contra Costa County, 1,366 homes were sold, a 29.5 percent decline from a year ago. Solano County saw 476 homes sold, a 37.6 percent drop from a year ago."

"The market today is not the same as the red-hot market three years ago, said Realtor Earl Rozran. 'There are a number of sellers that have still not got their arms around the fact that the market is not what it used to be. Buyers just have too much inventory to choose from,' he said."

The Press Democrat. "Sonoma County's slumping housing market showed little sign of improving in May as many buyers remained on the sidelines, waiting for prices to fall even further. May's median resale price fell to $575,000, down 4.6 percent from the same month a year ago."

"Prices have fallen for 11 consecutive months, the longest decline since The Press Democrat began tracking home sales in 1990. Sales were down 15.1 percent from a year ago."

"The county's housing market continues to fall back from its peak in summer 2005, when the median resale price hit $619,000. Buyers are in control with a large selection of homes and even more coming on the market during the typically busy summer sales season."

"'I think the buyers are biding time,' said Rick Laws, Santa Rosa manager for Coldwell Banker, which prepares The Press Democrat's monthly home sales report."

The Sacramento Bee. "A long, slow search for bottom continues across most of the region's real estate market. 'The market seems to change weekly,' said Bob Bronswick, president of the Sacramento-Tahoe division of Coldwell Banker residential brokerage. 'Memorial Day week was unbelievable. Properties were flying out the door. Then, all of a sudden, somebody turned the valve off.'"

"DataQuick reported 3,211 new and existing homes changed hands in May in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties. It was still 1,031 fewer closings than in May 2006, DataQuick reported."

"May closings fell to a 12-year low for the month in Sacramento County. Placer County's sales numbers were at a 10-year low, according to DataQuick."

"'It doesn't look like there's a lot of steam building at the moment, and we're coming up to the peak of the buying and selling season,' said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage."

The Tribune. "San Luis Obispo County home sales declined nearly 30 percent in May year-over- year and the all-home median price fell about 2 percent, according to DataQuick."

"It was a 14-year low for home sales in May and the 20th consecutive month that home sales have declined year-over-year, said Data Quick analyst Andrew LePage."

"The most significant drop-off in sales was in new homes, which fell nearly 60 percent to 34 in May from 84 the previous year. Prices of new homes were also hit hard. The median price plummeted nearly 14 percent to $525,500 in May from $609,000 last May."

"California's weakening real estate market helped push foreclosures, particularly for speculators and others who took out subprime mortgages, higher nationwide in the first quarter."

"Loans are beginning to reset, and payments are jumping by hundreds of dollars per month. As home prices have slackened, more average homeowners and investors are falling behind on payments or walking away from properties altogether."

"Prices in many Northern California markets, including Santa Cruz, Fairfield, Stockton, Napa, Modesto and Vallejo, fell in the first quarter, as measured by federal data that track sales of comparable homes."

"At the same time, the supply of homes on the market in the state has increased to about 10 months, up from four months several years ago, said Doug Duncan, economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America."

"'If you're an investor in those markets and you bought using a subprime (loan)...you're going to turn those keys in,' Duncan said."

From KSBY.com. "Several Central Coast homes...were auctioned off in less than a half hour, for much less than market value due to foreclosure."

"The most expensive house at the auction was one in Nipomo, appraised at over $550,000. The Arroyo Grande realtor who bought the home for $437,000 expects to see more foreclosure auctions."

"'We're in a down cycle right now, and foreclosures are on the rise, so auctions are probably a thing we'll see quite a bit of here in the future with foreclosures the way they're going right now,' said Arroyo Grande resident Coker Ellsworth."

The Record Searchlight. "About 100 people showed up Thursday morning as Pacific Auction Exchange staged its first public auction in Redding."

"It took about 10 minutes to auction off the Vermeer Place home. The opening bid was $250,000. In the end, Ken and Jason Jones of Redding got the 2,730-square-foot home for $375,000, plus a $37,500 auction fee."

"The house had been listed for $669,000 before it was pulled off the market in late April. Jason Jones, a real estate agent, figured the home was overpriced at $669,000 and probably is worth about $550,000."

"Don Shearing just opened the Pacific Auction Exchange franchise in Redding. He also owned the Vermeer Way home that was auctioned off Thursday. Shearing said he owed about $389,000 on the house, which originally was listed in November for $689,000."

"'This is the truest forum to establish market value. This is what we did here today,' said Shearing."

"Monthly home sales in Shasta County have been down each month this year compared with the same month in 2006. The median sales price in April was $269,500, down 5.4 percent from April 2006, according to DataQuick."

"Ross Domke, who owns Real Estate Professionals GMAC in Redding, suspects Shearing and company didn’t get the result for which they had hoped. 'I was surprised how few bidders there were. It was probably set up more as a test to see how the area would respond,' Domke said."