Firm: Largest year-to-year monthly home sales drop in SoCal in 2 years

Firm: SoCal home sales drop 21 percent in July

LOS ANGELES — A tracking firm says home sales in Southern California plummeted more than 21 percent last month from July 2009, their biggest drop in more than two years.

San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said Tuesday that the drop from about 24,100 homes in July 2009 to around 19,000 homes last month came as federal tax credits that had been fueling sales expired.

The firm says last month was the slowest July since 2007, when just under 18,000 homes sold.

Last month’s sales were also down about 21 percent from around 23,900 in June.

(This version CORRECTS date to July 2009).)