BY HOWARD OWEN

Home sales are down, and the median price keeps falling, but at least houses are selling more quickly.

Sales fell slightly in August from the previous month in the Fredericksburg area, from 403 to 381, according to data released yesterday by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems Inc. However, the time homes are on the market has gone down markedly.

In the area (Fredericksburg and Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline and King George counties), 195 homes that sold last month through the Multiple Listing Service had been on the market 30 days or less, slightly more than 50 percent of the total. A year ago, only 83 of 353 homes sold in 30 days or less (23.5 percent).

Ernie Dill, Realtor with Coldwell Banker ELITE, said the main reason for quicker sales is "the feeding frenzy among first-time home buyers."

First-time buyers have until Nov. 30 to take advantage of the $8,000 federal tax credit instituted to give the ailing real estate market some relief.

The median sales price continues to fall, however. In August of 2006, the median sales price was $329,000. A year ago, it was $249,900. In July, it was $210,000. Last month, the median fell to $197,520, about 21 percent lower than it was a year ago. That was lowest figure for August since 2002, when the median was $175,000 as the housing boom was starting to take off.

Sales of more-expensive homes were down in August. Only 25 of the 381 homes sold for $400,000 or more, compared with 38 of 403 last month.

Total listings were virtually unchanged from July (down from 2,437 to 2,435).

Conventional loans were used to finance 20.7 percent of the sales, down from 29 percent in July, when a jump in such loans caused speculation that the banks were more willing to make loans.

Cash transactions made up 13.9 percent of sales, while FHA and VA loans were slightly more than 60 percent of the total.

Howard Owen: 540/374-5539
Email: howen@freelancestar.com