LA Times - "Bay Area Home Sales Tumble" (8-17-06)

"The nine-county region sees a 30.8% drop in July from a year earlier. In a further sign of a slowing market, the median price falls from June."

"Sales of new and existing homes in the nine counties that comprise Northern California plunged 30.8% to 7,941 in July compared with a year earlier, and dropped 19% from June, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based research firm. Sales in Sonoma and Solana counties plunged by more than 40% year over year."

"July was the 16th straight month that sales have declined year over year in Northern California. The trend is less pronounced in Southern California, where sales in the six-county region have fallen for the last eight months, DataQuick reported this week."