Real estate prices plummet

Southern California real estate took another beating in March when prices plunged by record amounts and foreclosures accounted for nearly 40 percent of sales, an industry tracker said Tuesday. Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Price declines ranged from 18.5 percent in Los Angeles County to 28.2 percent in San Bernardino County, said La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, and indicate that the housing slump is deepening.

For the entire six-county region, the median price tumbled 23.8 percent, also a record, to $385,000. That's $120,000 in equity lost over the past 12 months and the lowest price since April 2004.