Central Valley Prices Down 3.5% YOY

Numbers for January 2007 are out and the Central Valley of California is down 3.5% year over year. So much for prices going up, as per ALL the local realtors.

From the report comes a note about the inventory overhang, see your Econ 101 textbook for an answer to the supply/demand equation:

“The unsold inventory of existing homes jumped to 9.1 months in January, after hovering around the long-run average of 7 months since mid-2006,” said C.A.R. Vice President and Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. “There was a slight increase in statewide listings last month, which is characteristic of the start of the year. However, listings remained near the long-run average. As such, the increase in the unsold inventory index--the ratio of listings to sales--was driven primarily by the sales decline.”