Firm: San Francisco Bay area home sales drop 10.9 percent, slowest for August in 18 years

Firm: N Calif home sales drop 10.9 percent in Aug.

LOS ANGELES — Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area plunged 10.9 percent in August from the year-ago period to reach the lowest level for the month in 18 years, a tracking firm said Thursday.

A total of 6,698 homes were sold last month, compared to 7,518 homes in August 2009, as potential buyers worried about job security and waited to see if prices would fall even further, San Diego-based MDA DataQuick said.

Sales in the nine-county region were down 1.1 percent in August from 6,773 in July.

Meanwhile, the median home price in the area dipped to $385,000 in August, a 4.2 percent decline from $402,000 in July. The decrease marked the second straight month-to-month drop.

However, the median price increased 6.9 percent last month from $360,000 a year ago.

Last month was the slowest August for sales since 1992, when just 6,688 homes sold, the firm said.

Still, the year-to-year decline was less sharp than July, when the end of federal tax incentives pushed sales down 22.8 percent.

“Some will find the August sales level disheartening, though at least the declines weren’t as steep as in July,” DataQuick president John Walsh said. “But spectacularly low mortgage rates and today’s lower prices present new opportunities for home shoppers who got discouraged in the past.”

Foreclosures comprised 26.7 percent of resales last month, up from 25.3 percent in July and down from 24.8 percent a year ago.