It's time for our monthly housing market speculation fest, as the real estate housing numbers come in for September.

Like 'NSYNC sez, it's dirty pop! (Out of charity for you, we won't do the Justin Timberlake mouth-scratching noises.) Housing sales in the Bay Area are down for the sixth straight month -- sales are down 7.2% from last year and 7.5% from last month. House appreciation is down to 7.9% (annual). However, the median price went up $101,000 from last September (to $616,000). So you're spending more and it's worth less -- love it!

And anecdotally, more and more folks are seeing houses move at cost or even at (imagine!), and some people are just pulling their houses from the market entirely. (Optimists, though, report that this isn't happening in tony areas like Montclair or Noe Valley.) Man, it is never a good time to buy a house in San Francisco.

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