Man, this is some shocking stuff, and it's just gonna get more shocking.

Sales halved. "Reported prices" back to 2004 levels. 20% of completed homes have no buyer. Use of incentives up 218%. Inventory up 500% Speculators have fled market. And of course, realtor blames crash on hot weather.

I liked the MSM use here of "Not including incentives, the average new home price....". Note to MSM - to correctly report the bogus data being supplied by the NAR and US government, you MUST include that disclaimer - "Not including incentives". Otherwise you are participating in the lie.

New-home sales tumbled 46 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, the latest evidence of a struggling housing market in the Sacramento region.

The region's median-home price -- meaning half the homes sold for more, the other half for less -- dropped 3.9 percent to $440,240, the lowest price since the second quarter of 2004.

The third quarter started slow, possibly because hot weather dissuaded home-shoppers from tours, said Greg Paquin, owner of The Gregory Group.

Housing inventory in the region, including lots ready for building, reached 4,598 in the third quarter -- more than five times the 875 homes and lots in second-quarter 2004, the lowest point since 2000.

About 20 percent of the current housing inventory is completed homes waiting on buyers, Paquin said.

In the past six months, speculation in the market has largely stopped. Large homebuilders are not starting construction without a signed contract, said North State Building Industry Association senior vice president Dennis Rogers.

Not including incentives, the average new-home price dropped to the lowest level since third-quarter 2004 in Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties.

The average incentive of $14,916 in the third quarter was 218 percent higher than in the third quarter of last year. The perks reached up to $50,000 for new homes and $125,000 for existing homes, according to the Gregory Group.