Los Angeles Times - 29.08.2019

BuSINESS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/BUSINESS

C

DOW26,036.10▲258.20 S&P5002,887.94 18.78▲▲NASDAQ7,856.88 29.94 GOLD$1,537.80 3.20▼ OIL$55.78 0.85▲EURO$1.1079▼▼.0014 U.S. T-NOTE(10-yr.)1.47% 0.02

In a reprieve for Southern Cali-
fornia’s sluggish housing market,
home sales rose in July from a year
earlier. It was the first sales increase
in 12 months.
The six-county median price —
the point at which half the homes
sold for more and half for less —
climbed 1.9% in July from a year ear-
lier to reach $540,000.
CoreLogic, which released the
data Wednesday, attributed the
3.7% sales gain to a variety of fac-
tors, including falling mortgage
rates, moderating prices and a rise
in inventory. Also, there was one
more business day last month com-
pared with July 2018. Accounting for
the difference would yield a small
drop in sales. But over the last year,
monthly sales had been falling by an
average of 10% each month.
“The flattening of price growth
and lower mortgage rates can make
a meaningful difference for some,”
said CoreLogic analyst Andrew
LePage.
When tracked across the six-
county region, price gains were
modest compared with years earli-
er, when homes flew off the market
after aggressive bidding wars and

the median consistently rose by

mid- to high-single digits, or more.

Economists have blamed the

lack of affordability for drastically

slowing the housing market toward

the end of last year and causing the

region’s median home price to fall

slightly in March from a year earlier

— the first decline since 2012. But

few economists expected a huge de-

cline, citing a relatively healthy

economy and a lack of home build-

ing.

Mortgage rates have since come

down steadily, which real estate

agents say has helped juice demand

and firm up prices. The average rate

on a 30-year fixed mortgage was

3.55% last week, down from a recent

high of 4.94% in November, accord-

ing to Freddie Mac. The drop would

save $352 on a monthly mortgage

payment for a $540,000 house.

The drop helped lead to an in-

crease in the number of L.A. County

households that could afford a

home, even though most remain

locked out. In the second quarter,

the percentage who could afford a

median-priced home stood at 29%,

up from 26% a year earlier.

“There’s 20, 25 people in any sin-

gle open house,” said real estate

agent Daniel Nevarez, who special-

HOMESare constructed in Santa Clarita in 2010. In Los Angeles County in July, the median price of a home rose 5% to $635,000.

David McNewGetty Images

Southern California home sales

and prices look sunnier in July

Lower interest rates, softening prices and more inventory push median up 1.9%

POTENTIALbuyers wait in 2010 outside the Spanish Colonial

Revival home in Brentwood where Marilyn Monroe died in 1962.

Mark RalstonAFP/Getty Images

By Andrew Khouri

[SeeHomes,C5]

Earlier this summer, the
Federal Trade Commission
began holding private talks
with YouTube officials, part
of a burgeoning investiga-
tion. The video service
stands accused of breaking
laws overseeing kids’ web
habits, placing a massive li-
brary of media and accom-
panying revenue in jeopar-
dy. Neither YouTube nor the
regulators have discussed
the talks publicly.
Yet despite the secrecy, a
small British marketing firm
started emailing some
marquee YouTube advertis-
ers about the developments.
Reports indicated that the
FTC would hit YouTube
with a record fine and force
its operations to change —
something, the emails
noted, that would “be of in-

terest” to YouTube’s spon-

sors. “Regardless of what

size the fine actually is, it

represents a shift in the

world for children’s digital

privacy,” read the message.

“Look forward to seeing you

soon.”

The emails were from Su-

perAwesome Ltd. Toy mak-

ers, animators and other

brands pay the company to

place online ads or access

tools such as the start-up’s

“safe, moderated” system

for internet comments. In

July, SuperAwesome added

another offering: a video

service, called Rukkaz, that

works much like YouTube.

Amateur broadcasters up-

load videos, sponsors back

them and kids watch. Only

the start-up pledged to work

with only hand-picked

broadcasters, and it pitched

the service as a way to abide

by privacy laws and avoid

the demented footage lurk-

ing on the open web.

“This is something that

Google and Facebook, and

arguably Apple, should have

Rivals see a chance

to unseat YouTube

FTC inquiry could set

off a shift in the kids

media landscape.

By Mark Bergen

[SeeYouTube,C4]

Apple Inc. apologized

Wednesday for privacy

mishaps surrounding its Siri

voice assistant and said it

would no longer retain audio

recordings of Siri interac-

tions, among other changes.

The announcement fol-

lows criticism of the iPhone

maker and other technology

giants for employing hu-

mans to listen to recordings

of user interactions with

voice assistants in a bid to

improve the product. Apple

had hundreds of contractors

listening to recordings of Siri

users in a process called

“grading,” but the company

suspended the program a

few weeks ago after some

consumers raised concerns.

It plans to reinstate the

practice after making a few

changes in software updates

this fall that will give users

Apple sorry for Siri privacy lapse

APPLEoften says it has tighter privacy controls than its rivals, but twice this

year it has apologized for privacy lapses. Above is a billboard in Las Vegas.

David BeckerGetty Images

Audio clips will no

longer be saved, and

humans will review

only if users opt in.

By Mark Gurman

[SeeApple,C4]

Members of the Sackler

family and their belea-

guered drugmaker Purdue

Pharma are backing a pro-

posal to resolve all opioid

lawsuits against themselves

and the company for more

than $11 billion in what

would be the largest settle-

ment to date in the sprawl-

ing litigation over the addic-

tive painkillers, according to

people familiar with the pro-

posal.

Under the proposal,

Purdue will file for bank-

ruptcy, hand itself over to a

trust controlled by the

states, cities and counties

that have sued, and sell its

overseas drugmaker

Mundipharma, according to

the people. In addition, the

Sacklers will dig into their

own pockets for at least

$3 billion in cash. Purdue’s

assets are expected to gener-

ate about $7 billion, bringing

in an expected $11.5 billion,

said the people, who asked

not to be identified because

the talks are private.

In return, the Sacklers

and Purdue — maker of Oxy-

Contin pain medicine —

would see more than 2,000

suits against them wiped

out, the people said. A deal

would resolve claims by al-

most every U.S. state and

many cities and counties al-

leging that the family and

Purdue sparked the ongoing

U.S. opioid epidemic

through wrongful marketing

of OxyContin, the people

said.

The settlement would be

separate from ongoing nego-

tiations involving state and

local governments seeking a

global settlement of opioid

claims against drugmakers

including Johnson & John-

son and Endo International,

and drug distributors

McKesson Corp. and Cardi-

nal Health Inc.

The proposal, some de-

tails of which were first re-

ported by NBC News, came

during settlement negotia-

Proposal

to settle

opioid

suits is

floated

Sackler family and its

Purdue Pharma back a

plan for them to pay

$11.5 billion to resolve

2,000-plus cases.

By Jef Feeley

and Riley Griffin

[SeeOpioid suits,C5]