Inside Scoop Visit us online at smdp.com
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2007
3
Housing situation looks ugly Trade group forecasts sales, prices will sag BY ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer
LOS ANGELES Housing sales and prices will fall further next year in California, as unsold homes keep piling up and many buyers hold out for lower prices, a trade group said Wednesday. In its 2008 forecast, the California Association of Realtors said it expected statewide sales of existing homes to fall another 9 percent to 334,500 units. Still, the association said that would be an improvement over the projected drop of 23 percent this year, compared to 2006. “It’s a moderation in the pace of decline, so from that perspective I guess it is positive, but we’re certainly getting to a relatively low level of sales,” said Leslie AppletonYoung, the association’s chief economist. The forecast also calls for the median price of a California home to decline 4 percent to $553,000, compared to the group’s projection for this year’s median sale price of $576,000. Stephen Levy, senior economist at the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy, had a less optimistic outlook. He expects prices to drop between 10 percent and 15 percent overall and perhaps more in some markets. The association forecast “conveys the wrong image to people about what’s going to happen in prices in their neighborhood from now on,” Levy said. “It’s going to be more severe. I think that’s good. I think it’s better for us if we get through the correction faster,” he said. California’s housing market has been stung by declining sales and lagging home values, particularly in inland areas where developers built new homes during the housing boom. Mortgage lenders, meanwhile, have been struggling to find cash in the wake of rising delinquencies and foreclosures among financially strapped borrowers, especially those with subprime loans. As a result, the mortgage industry has tightened lending standards.
Morgan Genser news@smdp.com
WIGGLE ROOM: Santa Monica tailback Christian Ross breaks free from Los Alamitos defender Joshua Barut last Friday at Corsair Field. Los Al handed Samohi a 34-26 defeat. The Vikings head into Ocean League play with a 3-2 record and hopes to make the postseason.
Ready for the Ocean Samohi hopes to do well in league play BY DANIEL ARCHULETA Daily Press Staff Writer
SAMOHI
Santa Monica High School began the season with great expectations, but as they head into league play tonight, the Vikings will have to fight for their postseason lives if they are going to make
Since 1967
Quality & Value Always! Open 6am - 2:30pm Mon. - Fri. 6am - 4pm Sat. - Sun.
310-399-7892 27322 Main n St. Santaa Monica
“Breakfast Luxo-style!”
it past the regular season. Following a 2-0 start to the preseason, Samohi has dropped two of their last three and are looking at Ocean League play as a chance to salvage a spot in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. At 3-2, the Vikings maintain a pretty respectable record considering that the pair of losses came to the likes of Venice and Los Alamitos high schools. Both squads are 41 and are most likely going to advance. “Our kids played well. We gave them
(Los Alamitos) everything they can handle. They had a big quarterback that just wore us down. We made a couple mistakes on offense and that really set us up for the loss,” said Samohi head coach Zach Cuda. “It was a very close, one-score game. “We had a chance to take a lead late in the fourth quarter, but we fumbled our chance away.” Last week, junior Christian Ross filled a vacancy at tailback left by senior starter SEE SAMOHI PAGE 8