If only you buy a house on Pacific Avenue for $300 like Monopoly! The August real estate numbers for the Bay Area are in and boy, it doesn't look good for anyone.

For those of you slavering to break into the market, the average house in the area now costs $651,000, and the average house in SF is $730,000. The Monopoly bank only comes with $15,140! But, for those of you who're already in the market and nervously wondering if the bubble is bursting, real estate agents are now saying "anecdotally" that houses are no longer moving the way they used to and people are having to (gasp) reduce their asking prices. Is it the beginning of the end?? One agent ominously says, "These days, there's not the clamor to fight for what's out there," citing a house that was reduced from $915,000 to $885,000. (Tnen again, that's only a 3% markdown, come to think of it.)

So really, in terms of the market, we're all in two camps -- you've either waited too long to get in, or you've waited too long to get out. Meanwhile, someone near Dolores Park hit the jackpot (or, we suppose we should say, landed on free parking, to continue with the strained Monopoly analogy) -- their 2-bed 1-bath house went on the market for $695,000 and sold at $985,000. No matter which camp you're in, we can all join in enviously watching those folks cackling all the way to the bank!

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