REAL ESTATE
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
August Homes Sales Rise in L.A. County: Nearly 7,800 home sales were reported in the county during August, a 23.6% increase over July, according to Dataquick Information Systems, a La Jolla-based real estate research firm. But compared to August of last year, sales of new and existing homes were up only 1.6%. The median sales price in August fell 4.1% from August of last year to $163,000. For Southern California, August home sales remained virtually flat compared to the same month last year, while prices slid 4.7% to $161,000, according to Dataquick.
