Home sales, prices tumble

Sinking home prices are drawing more buyers for Sonoma County properties under a half million dollars, one area of rising sales in what remains a sluggish housing market, analysts said.

Sales of less expensive homes pulled down the price for the typical Sonoma County house to $435,000 in February, down 29.7 percent from the peak in summer 2005 and the lowest in five years.

February sales of existing homes tumbled to 180, the lowest total since 1995 when housing was last in a slump.

Winter is normally the slowest season in real estate and sales usually begin to pick up in spring. There are signs, however, that buyers already are coming back into the market’s cheaper end.

Sellers accepted offers on twice as many homes under $500,000 in February compared with a year ago. Some of the activity is from investors purchasing homes, and lenders increasingly are selling homes at discount prices they have taken back through foreclosure.