Single-Family Home Sales Reach 6-Year High During August : Real estate: Despite the surge in activity, the median price drops to $175,000, down 10% from a year earlier.

Sales of previously owned single-family homes hit a six-year high for the month of August, but despite the heavy sales volume, median sales prices continued to sink.

Last month sales of single-family homes totaled 972, the highest level in August since 1988, and up 17% from 833 homes sold in August, 1993. But the median sales price last month was $175,000, down 10% from $195,400 a year earlier, and down 5% from $185,000 in July. The median price means that half the houses sold in August cost more than $175,000 and half cost less.

The average sale price of a home was $244,300 in August, up slightly from $241,600 a year earlier, and 9% higher than $223,400 in July.

Overall, 1,099 single-family houses and condominiums changed hands in August, up 15% from a year earlier, when 959 closed escrows were reported. The latest sales figures were down 8% from July, when 1,194 properties were sold. But the San Fernando Valley Assn. of Realtors, which compiles the housing data, said sales activity typically winds down in August, as summer vacations end and schools reopen.

The quick pace of single-family home sales continued a summer-long trend in which sales volume has gone up while prices have gone down. Real estate prices have been depressed for about four years as Southern California’s economy has struggled to recover from recession. Prices sank further when the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake damaged thousands of properties across the Valley, adding to the sizable number of foreclosed properties put up for sale, which also helps drive down prices.

But the deep discounts being offered on quake-damaged properties, along with the downward price pressure caused by persistent economic woes, have stimulated sales activity, especially among first-time buyers who in previous years could not afford Valley-area properties, the association said.

“Many people used to think their only option was to move to more affordable outlying communities,” said Alice McCain, president of the association. “Now they are discovering they can afford to buy within the Valley.”

The number of condominiums sold last month was 127, one more than was sold during the same month a year earlier. In August, the median sale price of a condominium was $115,000, down 15% from $135,000 in the same month a year ago, and 3% below the July median price of $119,000.

Last month, the average price of a condominium was $123,600, 11% less than in August, 1993, when the average was $139,000.

Also in August, the inventory of available properties for sale continued to shrink.

A total of 8,290 properties were listed in August, a drop of 34% from the same month a year ago, when 12,594 properties were listed for sale. The number of active listings in July was 8,363.

The Valley realty group, the largest in California, has 7,800 members from North Hollywood to Calabasas. Its figures generally do not include sales of new homes.