Housing market cools; prices drop, sales slow

Any homeowners out there reading this who DON'T think you're F'd?

Any renters reading this who aren't sleeping better tonight?

The autumn chill in the housing market is stronger than usual, according to the latest report from the North San Diego County Association of Realtors.

Not only have the number of North County sales and the median price for detached homes dropped from September to October ---- which is usual ---- but the numbers of sales are lower year-to-year, said Robert Brown, a professor of economics at Cal State San Marcos who compiles the North San Diego County HomeDex, a monthly index of housing prices, for the North County Times.

"This looks like a sustained price adjustment," Brown said. "If you take the price decrease with the lower number of sold units, it seems to me to be a little more than just seasonal adjustment."