Median Price of US Single-family Homes Falls Parabolically

This chart from "Chart-of-the-Day" shows the price of single family home prices grew at a parabolic rate on the way up and they are now falling at an even faster parabolic rate.

Chart of the Day says:

For some perspective into the all-important US real estate market, today's chart illustrates the US median price of a single-family home over the past 38 years. Thanks, in part, to low long-term interest rates, the trend from 1991 to 2005 was impressive. Not only did housing prices increase at a rapid rate, the rate at which housing prices increased – increased. That brings us to today's chart which illustrates how housing prices have dropped well below their accelerated upward trend and 29% from the 2005 peak. It is worth noting that housing prices are currently decreasing at a rapid rate. In fact, the rate at which housing prices have been decreasing has been increasing.

November California Median Home Prices & Sales Numbers

This is a table showing the number of sales, percent change, median sales price and percent change in the median sales prices for select California counties.

The number of sales are up considerably now that prices have fallen in some counties to prices that are more "affordable."

The median home price in Contra Costa county was down the most at 49.9% over November 2007.

This table shows condos plus single family detached homes:

County	Units Sold	Percent Change	Median Pridce	Percent Change
San Francisco	340	-29	$648,000	-20.5
Marin	155	-24.8	$625,000	-28.2
San Mateo	398	-21	$580,000	-25.6
Santa Clara	1120	-15	$450,000	-33.6
Napa	93	14.8	$406,500	-27.7
Orange	2177	38.9	$400,000	-31.4
Alameda	1182	20	$356,500	-36.9
Ventura	729	41.3	$355,000	-31.9
Los Angeles	5037	12.7	$340,000	-31.9
Sonoma	449	23.7	$310,000	-34.0
San Diego	2673	11.4	$305,000	-30.7
Contra Costa	1423	61.9	$265,000	-49.9
Solano	596	90.4	$234,000	-37.6
Riverside	719	48.6	$220,000	-38.3
San Bernardino	2385	38.7	$185,250	-43.9

Source: MDA DataQuick

This table from the San Jose Mercury News shows single family homes unless otherwise noted.

County or area	Number sold	Chg. from Nov. 2007	Median price	Chg. from Nov. 2007
Alameda	852	34.0%	$360,000	-40.1%
Contra Costa	1,111	124.0%	$260,000	-49.0%
Marin	104	-35.0%	$790,000	-19.0%
Napa	68	9.7%	$390,000	-29.4%
San Francisco	177	-26.3%	$697,500	-18.5%
San Mateo	332	-15.5%	$605,000	-26.2%
Santa Clara	738	-1.6%	$483,000	-39.5%
Santa Cruz	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Solano	498	127.4%	$235,000	-34.7%
Sonoma	363	39.1%	$318,750	-35.2%
Bay Area	4,243	31.9%	$350,000	-47.8%
Santa Clara condos	226	-17.8%	$287,500	-45.7%
Bay Area condos	900	-0.9%	$267,250	-46.1%
Santa Clara all	1,120	-15.0%	$450,000	-33.6%
Bay Area all	5,756	12.3%	$350,000	-44.4%

The Santa Cruz data was not available.

The typical single-family home in Santa Clara county, the Silicon Valley, sold for $483,000 in November, down a record 39.5 percent from November 2007. The San Jose Mercury news says the last time the median price of a Santa Clara county home was below the half-million-dollar mark was in March 2003, when prices hit $480,000.

This table came to me via email.

Change in Median Home Prices for All Recorded Sales (New, Resale, Condos, SFH) as per DataQuick, November 2008:

County/City/Area	From PK	YoY
Median	-44%	-33%
Alameda County	-43%	-37%
BAKERSFIELD	-50%	-40%
CHATSWORTH	-36%	-21%
Contra Costa County	-57%	-50%
CUPERTINO	-38%	-33%
DAVIS	-28%	-13%
El Dorado County	-50%	-21%
FAIRFIELD	-53%	-31%
FRESNO	-45%	-33%
Fresno County	-42%	-28%
GILROY	-47%	-38%
HUNTINGTON BEACH	-27%	-22%
Kern County	-47%	-37%
LANCASTER	-59%	-45%
Los Angeles County	-39%	-32%
Madera County	-51%	-36%
Marin County	-35%	-29%
Merced County	-67%	-53%
MERCED	-69%	-51%
Monterey County	-58%	-50%
MORGAN HILL	-57%	-52%
Napa County	-40%	-28%
Nevada County	-31%	-22%
NORTHRIDGE	-30%	-15%
Orange County	-38%	-33%
PALM DESERT	-24%	-18%
PALM SPRINGS	-42%	-32%
PALMDALE	-56%	-43%
PASADENA	-32%	-24%
Placer County	-36%	-15%
Riverside County	-49%	-39%
ROSAMOND	-54%	-40%
SACRAMENTO	-59%	-46%
Sacramento County	-53%	-36%
San Benito County	-56%	-34%
San Bernardino County	-51%	-44%
San Diego County	-42%	-31%
San Francisco County	-22%	-20%
San Joaquin County	-61%	-48%
SAN JOSE	-40%	-38%
San Luis Obispo County	-28%	-10%
San Mateo County	-28%	-25%
SANTA BARBARA	-31%	-19%
Santa Barbara County	-58%	-45%
Santa Clara County	-38%	-37%
Santa Cruz County	-47%	-43%
SANTA MARIA	-54%	-34%
SHERMAN OAKS	-39%	-14%
SIMI VALLEY	-40%	-27%
Solano County	-52%	-37%
Sonoma County	-47%	-33%
Stanislaus County	-59%	-44%
STOCKTON	-67%	-53%
STUDIO CITY	-34%	-10%
TEHACHAPI	-41%	-20%
Tulare County	-35%	-24%
VACAVILLE	-44%	-28%
VAN NUYS	-36%	-25%
Ventura County	-44%	-33%
WATSONVILLE	-54%	-42%
Yolo County	-49%	-28%

=>Libor Rates at a Glance

=>US Treasury Rates at a Glance

=>Tax Breaks and Tax Credits For Homeowners

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Libor Down; Historical and Current London Interbank Offered Rates at a Glance

LIBOR is the London Interbank Offered Rate. It is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates banks in the London wholesale money market (or interbank market) offer to lend unsecured funds to each other. LIBOR is usually slightly higher than the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID). LIBID is the rate the same banks are prepared to accept deposits.

Current LIBOR Rates

Term Rate
1-month 0.88%
3-months 1.85%
6-months 2.17%
12-months 2.37%

Data from Current and Historical Libor Rates at at Glance