“I don’t blame the buyers, they are acting rationally,” said Lawrence Yun, the trade group’s chief economist.
The median sales price plunged 11.3 percent from a year ago to $183,000. That was the largest year-over-year drop on records going back to 1968, and the lowest median sales price since March 2004.
Compared with last month, sales were down across the country. But sales were up 40.5 percent in the West compared with October last year, without adjusting for seasonal factors. Buyers in places like Las Vegas and Orange County, Calif., snapped up distressed properties at bargain prices. Full article by Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer here

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081124/economy.html