A report from the Orange County Register in California. "Southern California home sales hit a four-year low this past summer as rising costs and a lack of affordable homes cut into home shopper’s buying power, real estate data firm CoreLogic reported. 'The number of listings is starting to increase, but the buyers are not there,' said Newport Beach mortgage banker Kevin Budde. 'Everyone’s feeling the pain and looking for reasons why.'"

"August’s sales tally of 22,261 transactions was down for the ninth time in the past 12 months, a sign that home buyers increasingly are being priced out of the market, analysts said. Sales for the June-through-August period fell 6.8 percent in the past 12 months, making the summer of 2018 the slowest since 2014."

"August transactions were down from year-ago levels in all six Southern California counties. Orange County, the region’s priciest housing market, had the biggest decline. Transactions there were off 10.9 percent, followed by an 8.9 percent drop in San Diego County and an 8.5 percent decrease in Los Angeles County."

"Home listings ballooned as sales slowed. Southern California had 45,187 homes for sale as of Sept. 20, the highest number of listings in three years, according to Reports On Housing."

The Los Angeles Times. "Southern California home prices kept rising in August, but sales fell as questions grow over whether the torrid housing market is finally cooling. Some real estate agents said they are dealing with more supply and less demand."

"Tregg Rustad, an agent who specializes in Los Angeles County’s Westside, said the dynamic is most noticeable on the high end — particularly for homes whose sellers are trying for what he called aspirational pricing. He said a house he listed in Santa Monica for $3 million has sat for two months with no serious bids."

"'In the past, it might have sold,' Rustad said."

"Agent Kim Ho, who finds fixer-uppers in more affordable communities in and around Downey for investors, said those investors are passing on more deals because the homes they have renovated are taking longer to sell. 'I have seen them be a lot more cautious in the past couple of months,' Ho said."

"As inventory grows, price cuts are becoming more common in all six Southern California counties compared with a year earlier, Zillow data show, indicating more than seasonal factors could be at play."

"In Los Angeles County, 15.9% of listings had at least one price cut in August, compared with 10.6% a year earlier. The share of listings with price cuts rose in Orange County to 19.2% from 12.7%; in Riverside County to 19.8% from 13.4%, in San Bernardino County to 17.5% from 12.6%, in Ventura County to 18.9% from 13.8%, and in San Diego County to 22.9% from 12.9%."

From Mansion Global. "A 100-year-old bungalow so small it could fit inside a regulation basketball court five times has sold in Palo Alto, California, for $1.78 million. The buyer, a software engineer at Google, closed on the home at the end of August, property records show."

"He bought the property straight from the lender, who repossessed the property through foreclosure auction in May, a legal representative involved in the foreclosure confirmed."