California Housing Market Ready to Fall?

Southern California's long-booming housing market is showing signs of strain, with low affordability and riskier loans raising concerns about the sector's ability to be a primary driver of the region's economic comeback.

Consumers' ability to buy homes, which has been weakening for some time as prices have shot up much faster than incomes, recently hit record lows in some Southland counties. Such low levels could signal peaks in home prices and sales, economists say.