The Contra Costa Times reports from California. "Bay Area home sales had their worst October since 1988, with much of the blame placed on a drop in higher-priced loans. It was a record low for all three East Bay counties: Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano, said Andrew LePage, an analyst with Data Quick. DataQuick started collecting data in 1988."

"'The Bay Area relies heavily on jumbo loans more than any other part of the country,' LePage said. 'Unfortunately, we don't know how much of this is buyers not liking the rate and waiting for it to slide back versus they just can't get the loan.'"

"Ed Jeffry, a loan consultant in Walnut Creek, said the shift isn't all about not being able to qualify for jumbo loans. 'A lot of buyers are looking for the best deal they can get and get the least expensive home they can,' he said."

"Jeffry said the jumbo loan crisis hasn't done much to stop entry-level or high-end buyers. 'It's hit the dead center, so that means in our counties, nobody is moving up,' he said."

The San Francisco Chronicle. "Vacaville, in eastern Solano County, was long an affordable alternative for home buyers who didn't mind a long commute to the inner Bay Area. But that market has changed substantially within months."

"Larry St. John bought a home for more than $900,000 early this year in a new development on the city's northwest side. This weekend, St. John said the builder - DeNova Homes - is planning an auction of more than a dozen similar homes, with starting bids about $300,000 less than what recent buyers paid."

"'This is huge, this is our biggest investment,' said St. John. 'I can understand a corporation taking losses to stay in business, but an individual taking a $300,000 hit is not something I have the capacity to do.'"

"As a homeowner in the Bay Area, 'every couple of years you have an opportunity to refinance and do some improvements and still have equity,' St. John added. 'If you're starting off from a position of negative $300,000, that takes more than a few years to rectify.'"

"The correction isn't limited to far-flung suburbs. Last week, 44 properties were repossessed by lenders in Santa Clara County, according to Richard Calhoun, owner of Creekside Realty in San Jose. If that continues, Calhoun estimates half of all real estate transactions in Santa Clara County could soon be made up foreclosure sales."

"'If it gets to that point, lenders are going to start controlling the prices,' Calhoun said. 'Anyone who says that foreclosures aren't going to impact the Santa Clara housing market is crazy.'"

The Sacramento Bee. "A persistent housing slump that has relentlessly driven down home prices has now wiped out at least three years of home equity gains across much of the Sacramento region, Dataquick reported Thursday."

"'I've got two sets of buyers looking at property in Lincoln, 2,943 square feet listed for $325,000,' said real estate agent Viki Benbow. 'It's like $106 or $107 a square foot. Those houses three years ago were selling in the mid-$500,000s.'"

"Among buyers reaping a bonanza of falling prices was Joanne Higginbotham, who moved to Sacramento a year ago from Oregon. She closed last month on a two-bedroom, one-bath 1916 bungalow in Sacramento's Curtis Park. She moves in next week."

"'The budget was a big factor. It was a bank-owned property,' she said. 'I got it for $90,000 less than the prior owner paid for it two years ago.'"

"October ended with 15,716 homes still on the market in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento and Yolo counties, according to TrendGraphix. The number does not include foreclosures that have taken place but aren't yet on the market. In the first nine months of 2007, more than 6,500 homeowners have lost their residences to foreclosure in the eight-county region."

"'No one has seen this before,' Lyon Real Estate's Michael Lyon. told a gathering of area home builders earlier this month." "DataQuick said 65 percent of homes that went into foreclosure between Aug. 1, 2006, and July 31 have not been sold yet."

"Reports continue to come in about Sacramento-area home builders cutting back on overhead, mothballing projects and, now, selling land. One reason is that banks, with their growing numbers of repossessed homes, are becoming one of the builders' fiercest competitors for buyers in this market."

"When the struggling housing market is blamed for the drop in sales of Sacramento Kings tickets, you know this is serious. Home Front was amused to read in The Bee that the Kings' Danette Leighton, VP of marketing and branding, says a decline in tickets sales is more about the region's housing market than the poor win-loss record of last year's team."

"What next will subprime lending and the housing slump do? Will it make Christmas trees catch fire and children talk back to their parents?"

The Camarillo Acorn. "A slumping housing market continues to hurt Camarillo's otherwise healthy economy, according to a recent report released by the University of California, Santa Barbara Economic Forecast Project."

"Economist Bill Watkins told the 150 attendees the nationwide decline in home sales is 'hammering California' and having an impact on Ventura County, as well as Camarillo."

"In September 2005, 800 homes were sold in Ventura County. That number dropped to a little over 600 homes in 2006 and then dipped to 300 in 2007, the economist said."

"Watkins said 30 homes in Camarillo were sold in September 2007, an 80 percent drop from the 150 homes sold during the same month last year. Camarillo median home prices dropped from $625,600 in 2006 to $555,000 this year. Median home values are expected to drop again in 2008 to about $525,000, according to the report."

"'The decline in real median home prices combined with an increase in average salary will help make Camarillo a more affordable place to live,' Watkins said."

The Tribune. "San Luis Obispo County home sales in October declined to their lowest level in nearly 20 years, a Dataquick reported. Sales last month dipped 20.6 percent from October 2006 with 212 homes sold."

"'Octobers over the past 20 years have averaged 407 sales (all homes combined), so that’s nearly double last month’s total,' said Andrew LePage, a spokesman for the firm. 'So, sales are very slow by your own standards.'"

"Jumbo loan sales have fallen 73 percent on a year-over-year basis, according to LePage. Many buyers are sitting on the sidelines waiting for prices to drop, he said."

"'Lots of buyers see an advantage in waiting—waiting in hopes that prices will erode further,' LePage said."

The Malibu Times. "The perception is that the market is horrible. In some ways, it is. The number of homes selling in Malibu is very low. This year will see the same paltry total as last year-only about 170 to 180 deals. The reality, contrarily, is that more high-priced Malibu beach homes and estates are selling than ever before. And, at much higher prices."

"How about this for a headline: 'MALIBU AVERAGE HOME SALE PRICE UP 20% IN 2007.' But is it a fair representation of the whole market? Not at all. This is a market with such drastically mixed signals, it is unfair to use any one statistical measurement such as the one above."

"Also true is that just about every listing below $3,050,000 languishes unsold and price reductions by the truckload are a daily feature of the market. Some home sellers feel they can't give their house away. Market periods are expanding."

"Yet, week after week, the list of sales in the MLS is a trickle; maybe two to three homes. Almost as many sell in private transactions."

"At the low end, things are awful: In August 2005, no homes in Malibu were listed for under $1 million. Now there are many. Only seven homes have sold in Malibu for less than $1.5 million. That could sound like a good thing until you realize that 44 such homes have been listed. It has been practically impossible to find buyers under $1.5 million."

"For $1.5 - $2.5 million listings, it is hardly less of a struggle. forty-seven such listings have sold all this year; about that many are on the market now. That equates to a 10 month inventory of homes available. Almost every single one of those listed for more than two months has seen at least one price reduction already. (In a further sign of a slowing market, only seven of those sales closed since Aug. 1)."

"For homeowners who can't wait, however, it is a buyer's market. Only the seller that offers the best price gets the precious buyer. A new reality of lower comparable sales will likely take hold in months to come. Future sellers will have to adjust their hopes accordingly."

The Bakersfield Californian. "The Seven Oaks mansion of real estate agent David Crisp is set for public auction today on City Hall's front steps, according to an automated sales hot line listing upcoming trustee's sales."

"Crisp borrowed $2 million against the property earlier this year. The house is now in default, with $1,846,897 owed, according to The Daily Report, a local publication that prints county legal notices. The starting bid for today's 10 a.m. sale was not available, according to the sales hot line."