Home prices falling

San Diego-based DataQuick said in a report that the median home price in the state declined 4.2 percent last month to $249,000 from $260,000 in August 2010.

The median was down 1.2 percent from $252,000 in July.

Home sales were up 10.2 percent to 37,734 from 34,239 a year ago, when the transactions fell off with the passing of the federal tax homebuyer tax credit.

Sales were up 8.8 percent from 34,695 in July, a better-than-usual July-to-August sales gain that DataQuick at least partly attributed to a relatively high number of business days last month.

The number of homes sold per day in August fell about 5.4 percent from the month ago average and rose 5.4 percent from a year ago.

"The sliver of positive news here is that, no matter how you look at it, last month’s sales beat the year-ago numbers, which were pretty lousy,” DataQuick president John Walsh said in a news release. "Lower prices and mortgage rates lured some home-buyers off the sidelines last month, but too many others lacked the confidence to step into the game.”

Foreclosures accounted for 34.6 percent of August’s sales, nearly unchanged from 34.5 percent in July and down slightly from 35.6 percent a year earlier.

Short-sale transactions, in which lenders allow homes to be sold for less than what is owed on them, accounted for 17.8 percent of existing home sales. That was up from 17.3 percent in July but down from 18 percent a year earlier.

"There’s a lot of demand for distressed properties. Whatever is being offered by the banks is being sold,” said G.U. Krueger, principal economist at research and consulting firm HousingEcon.com Inc. "But the bad news is that they are being sold at a discount and that is what’s bringing down prices.”