June new-home figures are out and they show more of the same.

Statewide, sales of new single-family houses fell 54.4% for the 12-month period and slumped 12.7% from May. In Fresno County, the 166 sales were a 43.7% decline from June 2007, but, in a tiny bit of good news, a 23% boost from June.

So, where is the glimmer of hope? The median price of $258,900 was unchanged from May (although it was down 12.5% from a year earlier). In another report, an economist for PMI Mortgage Insurance talks about the weak economy continuing through 2009 at least, but also notes deep down that the prices of existing homes aren't falling as steeply as they were.

That's a hopeful sign, the report states, and could be an indication that the worst of the housing recession is behind us, though clearly not over.

That said, a new-home analyst, Jonathan Dienhart of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, didn't have much positive to say in statements released with the figures from the California Building Industry Association: Competition from foreclosures is too stiff, he said, and builders will have to bide their time until they wash through the system.

Here's a link to the PMI report.