Wednesday morning headlines

Housing settles down: The median price of an L.A. County home was $510,000 in November, according to DataQuick Information Systems, which is up 2.6 percent from a year earlier. Home sales fell 19 percent, although that was the smallest decline in five months (November is usually slow for housing but last month was especially sluggish.) Expect prices to flatten and possibly depreciate over the next few months. By the way, what happened to the Business Journal's housing report this month?

What's up with the Chandlers?: The family is talking about a bid for part of Tribune Co., which presumably would include the LAT. The idea, according to the NYT story, would be to lead a consortium made up of private equity money. It's possible that the family is just trying to drum up some interest. But if the Chandlers are serious (who knows at this point), they'll be helped by the fact that they own 20 percent of Tribune. From the NYT:

A deal could be structured with the Chandlers owning 51 percent of a Tribune unit and private equity firms the rest. For example, Tribune could decide to spin off its television unit and sell its newspaper unit to a Chandler-led group on a tax-advantaged basis. Such a consortium would not have to pay the enormous tax bill that an outside bidder would be faced with, an issue that has scared off some would-be suitors. And such a buyout structure, loaded with debt, would allow family members to cash out of Tribune to a degree, the people briefed on the discussions said.

Retail sales: A higher-than-expected increase in the November numbers should be encouraging to merchants who are concerned about a sluggish holiday season. The big story this season has been sales of flat-screen TVs and laptops. A $449.99 Compaq - Presario 420 Notebook is already sold out on BestBuy.com, according to the WSJ's Holiday Sales News Tracker. Desktop sales have been lackluster.

Merging airlines: Merger talks between United and Continental are just getting started and there no assurance anything will come of them. But Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said that should these pairings fail, others will take place. He says that's bad news for consumers. Here's what he said in a statement:

Five major network airline competitors would have been reduced to two in a relatively short period of time, should all proposals proceed. Other merger proposals would follow as sure as the sun-rises-in-the-east. What’s more, these potential transactions represent a near-term fix to the industry’s difficulties and do not address systemic profitability problems and root causes.

More on airlines: Air fares, actually. This morning's papers are trumpeting low-priced winter fares that must be purchased by Dec. 29. You can take American from L.A. to Paris for $518 roundtrip and from L.A. to Tokyo for $644 roundtrip. Travel dates vary by destination.

LA's mega-projects: Seems a little late for the LAT to ponder how LA Live and the Grand Avenue redevelopment will reshape downtown and perhaps the city, but there it is this morning on P1. The story's focus is on "smart growth," which basically means that Angelenos are expected to use public transport - or even walk to work - if it's convenient enough and close enough. Yeah, right. Question: Why wasn't more of this analysis done when the projects were in the planning stage?

Future of Six Flags: Six Flags Inc. CEO Mark Shapiro left open the possibility that the company might hold onto Magic Mountain in Valencia. The park and several others had been on the block for months, but recent reports indicate that the offers are on the low side. In any event, Shapiro said that Magic Mountain will not be turned into a housing development, as some have suggested would happen. (But but what if a bidders wants to take that route?) Six Flags wants to reduce its $2.2 billion debt.

Merrill back on OC: The Orange County Board of Supervisors has placed Merrill Lynch & Co. on the list of approved financial firms to underwrite county bonds. You might recall that Merrill and Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert Citron orchestrated a series of stupendously ill-advised financial maneuverings that resulted in the county declaring bankruptcy in 1994. Merrill paid $437 million in 2000 to settle lawsuits with the county and other investors.