Sacramento's housing market ended the year on an upbeat note as sales of single-family homes rose in all four of the region's counties.
But prices continued to falter due to the large number of distress sales.
San Diego-based DataQuick said Wednesday that a total of 1,810 single-family homes were sold in Sacramento County last month, a 6.2 percent increase from December 2010.
El Dorado County enjoyed its best December since 2004 as the number of resales in that county surged 33.6 percent, to 286. Placer County saw its sales volume increase 7.9 percent to 491, while sales in Yolo County jumped 11.1 percent to 160, DataQuick said.
"Many of the deals that did make their way through the system were in the distressed arena – foreclosures and short sales," said John Walsh, DataQuick's president.
The median price for a house in Sacramento County fell 7.6 percent from a year ago, to $157,000, while the median in Placer County slipped 1.6 percent to $255,750.
Prices in El Dorado and Yolo counties were down 3.6 percent. El Dorado County's median price for December was $264,000, while Yolo County's median was $215,000, DataQuick said.
Median price means half the homes sold above and half sold below the given price.
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