On May 11th, 2011, The Sacramento Bee published a front-page article titled “Sacramento-area home prices continue their long decline.” Timely? Yup. Dramatic? Certainly. Accurate? No way!!!
As a real estate professional who closely studies current market trends and statistics, I found the headline way off-base. I read further to see how they were making this claim. What I found was fairly ironic.
On the back-page of the continued article, a graph (provided by the Sacramento Association of REALTORS) illustrates the historical median home price inSacramentocounty over the last decade. Take a peek:
This graph clearly shows how, for the past two-and-a-half years, the median home price trend has largely flattened out and stabilized. The “long-decline” happened from 2005-2008, so within the writer’s own article he disproved the misleading claim of his headline.
In my opinion, the headline is another example of news providers creating sensational stories rather than factual news.
It was a good reminder that even in our information over-load lives, it is best to slow down and read beyond the headlines.
Matt Sundermier's Memos on Real Estate & on Life 
I didn’t read the article but the graph clearly shows that home prices are declining from around May of 2010! Perhaps a better headline would have been…
“Sacramento-area Home Prices On The Decline Again”
Yes, you are correct Linda. Things have declined over the past 12 months, and prior to that prices were actually on the rise. From point-to-point in early 2009 to April 2011, the median home price was the same. That is what I was basing my “flat” comment on. But obviously things always tend to ebb and flow as time goes on. I am optimistic we won’t see this latest small slide continue further. We’ll continue to “bounce” along in this median price range.