'Stunning' drop in home prices

San Fernando Valley homeowners saw property values plunge 35 percent - a quarter-million dollars on a median-price home - in the year since the credit crisis erupted and foreclosures began flooding the market, a research center said Wednesday.

The median price of a previously owned house tumbled from $650,000 in August 2007 to $420,000 last month, said a new report from the San Fernando Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

The median price in August matched levels last seen in January 2004.

"It's stunning. That's a huge amount," said Daniel Blake, the center's director. "Next month we'll be back at 2003 prices."

The August median is still $260,000 higher than the $160,000 recorded in January 1996, the low mark of the previous bear market.