Home Prices Stumble in San Joaquin Valley

Last November I sent a flyer to my neighborhood about the average house price in Manteca and what the average household income could afford to buy.  At that time it appeared the average household income could afford to purchase a house for $325,000 and the average sold price was $293,000.  This led me to believe Manteca had a little more room for house prices to increase.  After looking at the homes sold through February of 2014 the average sold price decreased to $279,000.  It appears buyers are spending less of their available income on a home which has decreased the average sold price.  However, the quantity of homes sold under $250,000 has decreased.  This means the lower priced homes increased in value due to higher demand and the higher priced homes decreased due to lower demand.  This leads me to the believe that home prices have stopped increasing and things are starting to be more stable in the San Joaquin and Stanislaus Valley.