Ravaging Riverside

I have been diligently following Housing Tracker for several years now, watching house prices crash and burn like Sherman raging though the South. Housing Tracker tracks the asking prices of homes within fifty-two metro areas. The list is updated approximately once a week, and there are actually two lists, each updated usually on a separate date from its sister list. What is called the Old Housing Tracker covers smaller, tighter versions of the same metro areas as the New Housing Tracker. Of course most of the Texas cities have consistently scored at or near the top of the heap, while many (or most) California areas have dragged the bottom. In recent postings, Riverside CA has shown some really sad figures. The most recent page for the tighter metro area shows a 42% loss from one year ago. The frightening part is that the peak for Riverside was April of 2006, making the entire downward drop 52%, more akin to a skydiver than a down escalator.