Single page Print E-mail story Change text size Home Price Appreciation Slackens The Southland median rose 2.7% in August, the smallest year-over-year increase since 1999. By Annette Haddad, Times Staff Writer September 20, 2006 For the first time since the latest housing boom started six years ago, home price appreciation for each of the six Southern California counties has fallen to single-digit levels or worse, data released Tuesday showed. The data also showed that the region's housing upturn appeared to be fizzling just as quickly as in the last major up cycle a decade and a half ago. ADVERTISEMENT From 1989 to 1990, Southland home price increases fell from double-digit levels to zero in only eight months, ushering in nearly a decade of lackluster growth. In August, the median price for all Southland single-family houses and condominiums rose 2.7% from the year-earlier level, to $489,000 — the smallest increase since July 1999, according to La