Buyers in Nevada County

And in Nevada County, real estate agents are reporting multiple offers on houses, a sign that buyers are seeing bargains and wanting to get back into the market.

Bank loans are available for well below 5 percent, another impetus to encourage buyers.

Though housing sales statewide were down slightly in February from the January volume, February’s 29,225 houses and condominiums sold were up 42.5 percent from February 2008, DataQuick Information Systems in San Diego reported. DataQuick figures for Nevada County were expected later this week.

The West was the only part of the country to show increased sales, rising nearly 24 percent in the region from a year earlier.

In California, housing prices held steady. The median price paid for a home in February was $224,000, unchanged from the month before, and down 39.9 percent from $373,000 for February 2008, DataQuick reported.

In the Bay Area, the median sale price dipped below $300,000 for the first time since late 1999, DataQuick said.

Nationwide, prices in February plunged by almost 16 percent from a year ago and are expected to keep falling well into 2009, experts told the Associated Press.

February’s national sales figures don’t reflect the new $8,000 tax credit designed to lure even more first-time buyers into the market. However, the credit has begun to attract buyers like Mindy Robbins, 30, of Billings, Mont.

“I wanted to take advantage of the stimulus package,” said Robbins, who is scheduled to close next month on a $129,000 house with three bedrooms and two baths.

Buyers like Robbins should help invigorate spring and early summer sales, but how much will depend on the overall condition of the U.S. economy.

“If the economy stabilizes around midyear and financial conditions improve, then sales will probably begin to slowly increase as buyers step back into the market,” wrote JPMorgan Chase analyst Abiel Reinhart. Homes now are far more affordable to average Americans due to far lower prices and attractive mortgage rates, he added.

But continued job losses may prove a damper despite lower prices, some said.

“The four-letter word in the housing market is ‘jobs,’ ” said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. “If you’re worried about having a job tomorrow, you’re not likely to buy a home now.”

Alexis McGee, president of Foreclosures.com in the Sacramento area, said the nationwide volume increase went against expectations.

“The street estimate was for a decline of 0.9 percent,” McGee wrote. “Most of the increase in buyer traffic occurred in the latter part of the month after the $8,000 first-time buyer tax credit was put in place.”

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of existing homes grew 5.1 percent to an annual rate of 4.7 million last month, from 4.5 million units in January.

It was the largest monthly sales jump nationwide since July 2003, with first-time buyers accounting for about half of all transactions. Without adjusting for seasonal factors, though, sales nationwide were down more than 10 percent from a year earlier.

The median sales price nationally in February skidded to $165,400, down from $195,800 a year earlier. That was the second-largest drop on record, and prices are now off 28 percent from their peak in July 2006.

However, in a positive sign, sellers’ asking prices are starting to rise in places like San Diego and Orange County, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors. That could be an early indication that prices are stabilizing in the most distressed parts of the country, he said.

Interest rates have sunk to historic lows, with the national average for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage sinking to 4.98 percent last week, just above record lows.

The Federal Reserve last week moved to reduce already low rates by printing $1.2 trillion and pumping it into the economy through the purchases of mortgage-backed securities and Treasury debt.