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http://www.modbee.com/local/story/44087.html

Home sales prices plunged again in July, pushing median prices down more than 13 percent throughout the Northern San Joaquin Valley compared with July 2006.

DataQuick Information Systems, which gathers home sales statistics from public records, released these statistics Wednesday:

# Stanislaus County homes sold for a median price of $324,500 in July, down $48,750 from last year and down $18,750 from June.

# San Joaquin County homes sold for a median $380,000 in July, down $60,000 from last year and down $16,000 from June.

# Merced County homes sold for a median $316,000 in July, down $53,000 from last year but up $26,000 from June.

Home sales volume also plummeted in July.

In Stanislaus County, for instance, 371 homes sold in July compared with 706 for the same month last year and 519 in June.

San Joaquin County had 562 homes sell in July, compared with 988 last year and 666 in June.

"The drop in the number of sales is more significant to us than the change in median price," said Stanislaus County Assessor Doug Harms.

Median sales prices can vary based on the size of homes sold in any month, but Harms said the dramatic decline in overall sales "indicates the market is doing very poorly."

Harms said home value declines are widespread.

"If you bought your house within the last three years, it's probably worth less today," said Harms, whose office is reassessing home values to potentially lower property taxes for thousands of homeowners.

Harms said his office has lowered assessments on about 6,000 Stanislaus County homes, and he knows more need to be lowered. Homeowners who want their assessments reviewed can request it by calling 525-6461.

"We'll probably review every property that (sold) after July 2003," Harms said.

Homeowners aren't so thrilled when real estate agents tell them they can't sell their home for as much as they had thought it was worth.

"We have to inform our sellers to be realistic and lower their price, but not all sellers are willing to do that," said John Christiansen, who has a real estate brokerage and is chairman of the Modesto Council of the Central Valley Association of Realtors.

Christiansen said many agents must try to convince sellers to drop prices $25,000 or more to attract buyers. And when sellers won't, he said "there are agents who have basically fired their clients."

But the number of homes for sale continues to rise even though buyers are tough to find.

In Modesto, about 1,950 homes were listed for sale by Realtors as of last week. But since the year began, Realtors have sold about 1,000 Modesto homes.

At that pace, it could take more than a year for the typical home to find a buyer.

"Inventory is continuing to go up, but buyers are kind of waiting for prices to hit a bottom," Christiansen said. More than anything else, Christiansen said, what motivates buyers are low prices.

But home prices aren't low enough to be affordable for most Northern San Joaquin Valley families, according to Darryl Rutherford, a researcher for the California Coalition for Rural Housing.

Considering Stanislaus County's median-income family earns about $54,000 a year, Rutherford said median home prices would have to drop to about $185,000 to be affordable.

At that price, Rutherford said, the typical family would spend about one-third of its income on housing, including mortgage, taxes and insurance.

"Right now, housing costs pose a huge burden on families, taking up 40 to 50 percent of their incomes," Rutherford said.

"For society as a whole, we would be better off if home prices went down further," said Rutherford, although he acknowledged such declines could be financially disastrous for homeowners.

"But people are looking at housing with the wrong eye. They look at it like something that should be bought and sold for a maximum profit," Rutherford said. "Instead of thinking of housing as a commodity for profit, people should think of it as more of a right."

Bee staff writer J.N. Sbranti can be reached at jnsbranti@modbee.com or