Two reports from the Orange County Register in California. "There might be some good news for Californians stretching to buy a home. The statewide median home price declined to $538,690 in January. The statewide median price was down 3.4 percent from $557,600 in December and up 2.1 percent in January from a revised $527,780 in January 2018."

"'California continued to move toward a more balanced market as we see buyers having greater negotiating power and sellers making concessions to get their homes sold as inventory grows,' Jared Martin, the president of the California Association of Realtors, said in a recent report."

"January is typically the slowest month for home sales. This year, sales statewide in the first month were the slowest of any month since April 2008. Has the real estate market cooled in California?"

"The median price of an existing Orange County house fell 1.6 percent year over year in February, decreasing to $792,500 from over $805,000 in February 2018, CAR reported Tuesday, March 19. It’s the second time in three months Orange County home prices fell from year-ago levels."

"Sales, meanwhile, continued to lag year-ago levels across the board. In the region as a whole, sales were down 10.7 percent year over year, with drops of 10.9 percent in Los Angeles County, 16.5 percent in hardest-hit Orange County, 7.7 percent in Riverside County and 14.1 percent in San Bernardino County."

"Orange County was one of 17 counties statewide to experience a price drop last month, while prices increased in the remaining 35 for which home price data was available."

The Bay Area Newsgroup. "The bidding wars and quick cash sales have abated, and home sellers are cutting prices more often and waiting longer to close deals than a year ago. Sales slumped nearly 13 percent in January from the previous year. Agents say homes priced over $2 million are spending longer on the market, and CoreLogic data found transactions for luxury homes in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties dropped by more than 25 percent in December and January."

"About 15 percent of homes listed in the San Jose metro area took a price cut. Homes still sold for a robust 97 percent of asking price. Last year, the typical property sold for a 7 percent premium over asking price. In the East Bay and San Francisco, 11.5 percent of sellers dropped prices and sold their homes for an average of 98.6 percent of the asking price."

From Xinhua. "As economic and market uncertainties sent home sales in California in January to their lowest level since April 2008, business insiders say growth in the Golden State's housing market appears to be slowing. There are currently 27,522 homes on the listing in Southern California this year, much more than 21,219 in 2018."

"But analysts think the market slowdown does not mean a large-scale price drop in the short term. Price reduction varies from area to area. 'In hot areas of Southern California, homes priced under 1,000,000 U.S. dollars still sell good,' Kevin Zhang, a local real estate agent, told Xinhua. 'The monthly mortgage payment for these kinds of properties is almost same as the rental payment. That's why their sales are still relatively stable.'"

From Los Altos Online. "State Assemblyman Marc Berman, whose 24th District includes Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Mountain View, remains uncommitted, at least publicly, on a controversial bill that would force high-density housing along major transportation corridors."

"'When is enough enough?' one attendee asked. 'All we’re getting is giant buildings … that only rich people can afford.'"

"'Enough (housing) will be enough when we don’t see rows of RVs along El Camino, when 19 percent of students attending community colleges aren’t homeless,' Berman responded. 'We don’t have nearly enough.'"

From Eyewitness News. "Unless local housing prices are able to come closer in line with incomes here, L.A. could be facing a serious demographic shift in the near future. 'We'll become, basically, a luxury place to live in and we won't have a rich and wide range of incomes living here in Los Angeles,' said Professor Richard Green, the director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate."

"Green said the high cost of living in L.A. is an even bigger problem when you realize that incomes here are just slightly above average."

The Paradise Post. "The Bay Area has become one of the most popular places in the country to leave in recent years. About 64,300 residents exited the region, many for other states, between 2015 and 2018, according to a recent survey by Joint Venture Silicon Valley."

"But along with the high cost of living, politics has become a key component pushing some out of the liberal region. One-party domination in Sacramento and constant chafing with neighbors has driven conservative Bay Area refugees to communities in Texas, Idaho, Colorado and Florida. Former residents say their views on immigration and taxes put them on the margins of a region they once embraced."

"In Idaho, Boise agent Kerri O’Hara said her clients regularly share horror stories from the Bay Area, usually about the high rates of homelessness and public defecation in San Francisco. 'I’ve heard every story with the feces,' she said."

From KSRO. "According the Press Democrat’s monthly housing report, the median home price in the month of February dropped 10 percent from the same month last year to 620 thousand dollars. Home sales also dropped 15 percent with 227 single family homes sold in February 2019 compared to 267 sold in February 2018. This continues the downward trend of median home prices dipping since their peak of 700 thousand dollars last June."