Bugs: More and more articles are appearing about price drops in supposedly “impervious” markets like SF and Manhattan. Even as little as six months ago, these two markets were being used to illustrate the principle that some markets would remain immune, unlike the Murrietas and Chula Vistas and Riversides.
A poster who is very knowledgeable about banking (I think it was Davelj) made the very astute observation that it is not about a liquidity crunch, it is about a bad asset crunch. This mess is not confined to just sub-prime, but is spreading into Alt-A and prime as well.
The prime locations might be the last to get hit, but they will get hit, too. And while a single listing does not a trend make, all trends start somewhere.