Real Estate Industry

The median home price in California dropped 40% in February from a year earlier, a real estate tracking firm reported Thursday. MDA DataQuick also said that home sales in the state jumped nearly 43%. The San Diego company said the median price was $224,000 last month, compared with $373,000 in February 2008. Foreclosures accounted for 58% of home sales in California last month.

These are tough times for real estate agents, who say some cities make it tougher than it has to be. Real estate agent Ronald Shore is mounting a campaign -- both with signatures and on the Internet -- against a West Hollywood ordinance that he says limits the ability of prospective buyers to find homes for sale while driving on city streets.

After three real estate agents, two price reductions and nearly a year with no offers on their town house in Las Vegas, George and Katherine Grodin turned to a higher power for help. They bought a 4-inch plastic figurine of St. Joseph -- the patron saint of home and employment -- and placed it upside down in their patio with hopes of breaking their home-selling slump. "I just felt so helpless," said Katherine Grodin, 47. "I needed to do something."

Commercial real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. on Wednesday reported its first loss since it went public nearly five years ago, capping months of difficulty in the depressed property market. The Los Angeles company said it had a net loss of $36.7 million, or 14 cents a share, in the first quarter compared with a profit of $20.4 million, or 10 cents, in the same period in 2008. Revenue was down 28% to $890 million.

Los Angeles commercial real estate continues to spiral downward, according to a report released Wednesday by Real Capital Analytics Inc. The New York-based real estate research firm found that Los Angeles had $4.5 billion in troubled commercial properties at the end of June. In all, 263 properties are in default, foreclosure or bankruptcy, the firm reported. At the beginning of the year there were 113, a 133% increase.

Amid continuing turmoil in the market for commercial real estate, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said Wednesday that it had lost money in the second quarter. The Los Angeles company, the world's largest commercial real estate brokerage, said it had a net loss of $6.6 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with a profit of $16.6 million, or 8 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue was down 27% to $955.6 million.

Mark Kiesel saw the real estate crash coming. Kiesel, a managing director at investment firm Pimco, wasn't alone in his 2006 warning of a looming housing market meltdown. But he was among the few who put his money -- in his case, a lot of it -- where his mouth was. Kiesel and his wife, Amy, sold their Newport Beach house in the summer of 2006 for 20% more than they had paid and moved into an apartment one-fifth the size. Now, news reports highlight signs of a real estate market bottom.

The home mortgage market, propped up by more than $1 trillion in government money, is flashing a strong "buy" sign to house hunters. Extending a summer-long slide, the average interest rate on new 30-year fixed-rate loans nationwide has broken through the 5% barrier to 4.97%, nearing the lowest level in decades, the Mortgage Bankers Assn. reported this week. And mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac, which separately tracks rates, reported Thursday that the average fixed rate on a 15-year home loan had dropped to 4.46%, the lowest level on record.

Mortgage rates sank near all-time lows this week, according to giant home-loan buyer Freddie Mac -- at least for those borrowers who have survived the recession with their credit ratings still solid and who are able to put 20% down. For those lucky people, the average rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage during the week ending Thursday was 4.94%, with borrowers paying 0.7% of the loan amount in upfront fees and points to the lender. (Paying points, each one equivalent to 1% of the loan, can reduce the interest rate on the mortgage.

In the wake of the mortgage meltdown, the Federal Housing Administration has emerged as a pillar of the still wobbly housing market -- providing vital insurance that enables borrowers to qualify for loans with as little as 3.5% down. This year alone the agency has backed nearly 2 million mortgages worth at least $328 billion. It insured 21.5% of all new mortgages last year, up from fewer than 6% in 2007. Some lawmakers, however, worry that the FHA may be doing its job too well -- enabling too many people with shaky finances to get loans, and in effect setting up a potential repeat of the housing bubble fueled in part by no-questions-asked subprime loans.