California's free-falling home prices sparked a fourth straight month of year-over-year sales gains during July, the California Association of Realtors reported Monday.
Median sales prices were down a record 40.3 percent from July 2007, CAR reported.
The huge price cuts contributed to 489,000 escrow closings in July, up 43.4 percent from a year earlier.
California's year-over-year sales volume went positive in April for the first time since October 2005. May saw an 18.1 percent increase over the same month in 2007; June's sales across California were up 17.5 percent.
The Sacramento region has also seen four straight months of higher sales than last year.
"Deeply discounted, distressed sales continue to drive volume in many regions of the state," CAR President William E. Brown said in a statement.
Statewide, bank repos have flooded the real estate market in the wake of 194,608 foreclosures during 2007 and the first half of 2008, according to DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla.
July's sales were up 176 percent over last year in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Sacramento County's sales were up 128 percent, the second highest in California, CAR reported. All three counties have been hard-hit by foreclosures and falling prices.
The sales boom has brought California inventory for sale down to 6.7 months. A year ago it was 10 months. That's the time it would take to sell all the homes on the market at today's sales pace.
The California numbers contrasted sharply with those nationally. Though sales of existing homes rose to a five-month high in July, they were 13.2 percent below the same time last year, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Call The Bee's Jim Wasserman, (916) 321-1102.
