California home sales plunge to 20-year low

25 percent decrease from December to January, median price also falls

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updated 4:01 p.m. ET Feb. 14, 2008

LOS ANGELES - Housing market data from January show California home sales have plunged to their lowest level in more than 20 years.

DataQuick Information Systems said Thursday that 19,145 homes were purchased statewide last month, a 41 percent drop from January 2007's total and down about 25 percent from December's sales.

DataQuick's records go back to 1988.

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The data show that the statewide median home price also fell in January to $383,000. That's a drop of about 17 percent from $462,000 a year earlier and down about 5 percent from December after peaking last spring at $484,000.