Prices slide, home sales increase

Home sales soared in October in the San Fernando Valley as prices continued to slide, and a decrease in foreclosures provided a glimmer of hope that the housing market is stabilizing, two reports released Tuesday show.Gregory J. Wilcox in the Daily News.

Foreclosures fell for the third consecutive month in communities from Glendale to Calabasas, with 549 families losing their homes. While that's 33 percent more than a year earlier - when the housing market was beginning to crumble - it's also 41percent below the record high of 923 reported in August by the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.

"That's quite a dramatic drop," said Daniel Blake, the center's director.

And notices of default, the first step in the foreclosure process, fell the annual equivalent of 40 percent for the second consecutive month, said the center's report.