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From The Associated Press

Small SUVs perform better in crash tests

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Four small sport utility vehicles received top scores in crash tests being released Wednesday by the insurance industry, a sign of improvement compared with SUVs built earlier in the decade.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave top crash test scores in front-end, side and rear tests to the 2009 Ford Escape, 2009 Volkswagen Tiguan, 2008 Mitsubishi Outlander and the 2008 Nissan Rogue.

Adrian Lund, the institute’s president, said the Escape, Tiguan, Outlander and Rogue were equipped with standard electronic stability control, which guards against rollovers, and side air bags.

The safety equipment helped the vehicles show improvements across the board, including in the side tests.

California home sales surged in July, prices fell

LOS ANGELES—Home sales in California surged more than 12 percent in July from a year ago, the biggest jump in sales in four years, a research firm said Tuesday.

A total of 39,507 new and preowned homes were sold statewide last month. That’s up 12.3 percent from July 2007 and up 12.2 percent from June’s total, MDA DataQuick said in its report.

Foreclosed homes accounted for 44.8 percent of all the homes sold last month.

The surge in foreclosure sales and home depreciation, coupled with fewer sales of high-end homes, helped drive down the statewide median home price to $318,000, a decline of 33.5 percent from July 2007.