Existing Home Sales declined in 0.8 percent from March to April and are down 12.9 percent from April of 2010. Rather than accept that there are legitimate reasons that the housing market is weakening, Realtors® are blaming low appraisals and tight underwriting standards.

If you thought California, Nevada, Florida, and Arizona were the worst places for foreclosures, consider that they might just ahead of everywhere else.

Sales of existing homes rose in 3.7 percent from February, but remained 6.3 percent below March of 2010. Housing inventory levels rose slightly as more homes came on the market, creating 8.4 months of housing supply.

CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX), a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information and business services, reported today that the current residential shadow inventory as of January 2011 declined to 1.8 million units,representing a nine months’ supply.

The statewide median price of an existing, single-family detached home sold in California was $271,320, down 2.8 percent from a revised $279,140 in January and was down 2.5 percent from the $278,190 median price recorded for February 2010. The February 2011 median price was the lowest since May 2009, when it was $263,440.