Sales of single-family, re-sale homes in Santa Cruz County rose 11.7% year-over-year.

Prices, meanwhile, continue to be plagued by the glut of bank-owned property on the market.

The median price for homes was down 25.9% year-over-year, and it was down 5.5% from July. The average price declined 25.1% compared to August 2007.

Remember, these are statistical prices and they are being skewed downward dramatically by the large number of bank-owned properties being sold.
When the market was rising, statistical prices were skewed upward by the feeding frenzy that went on.

The good news is that inventory continues to decline. It was down 13.3% year-over-year. That combined with the increase in sales pushed our Days of Inventory indicator down to 202 days.

Another positive note, the California Association of REALTORS® reported that affordability in Santa Cruz County went from 18% in the second quarter of 2007 to 30% in the second quarter of this year.

We expect that once the bank-owned properties work themselves through the system, prices will start rising again.

Condo sales were up 3.3% year-over-year, but the median price was down 18.7%, while the average price was off 17%.

The real estate market is very hard to generalize. It is a market made up of many micro markets. For complete information on a particular neighborhood or property, call me.

On August 12th, Donald Trump was interviewed on Good Morning America about the real estate market. To see the video, click on the following link: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5562780.