Housing market continues to struggle

Single-family home sales fell to a four-year low in August, as the market continued to be plagued by high prices and low inventory.

Nearly 18,800 news and resale houses were sold in the six-county region last month, an 18.5 percent drop compared with August 2013, according to CoreLogic DataQuick in Irvine.

That was 28.2 percent below the average number of sales for the month of August, according to CoreLogic DataQuick, which on Thursday released its monthly report on the Southern California housing market.

One reason for the drop in sales is that prices continue to rise, driving many would-be buyers out of the market, at least for now. The median price of a single-family home last month $420,000, a 9.1 percent year-over-year increase.

Once again, the Inland Empire followed the Southern California market.

Sales were down 22.7 percent in Riverside County and 21.1 percent in San Bernardino County year-over-year, while prices rose dramatically: the median price of a single-family home last month in Riverside County was $300,000, up 13.2 percent, while the $240,000 median price in San Bernardino County was 14.1 percent increase, the report stated.

While high prices remained a major impediment to buying a home, some people are still having difficulty qualifying for a loan, said Andrew LePage, analyst with CoreLogic DataQuick.