Much of the slowdown in sales, however, was expected due to the recently expired homebuyer tax credit programs, which pulled through future home purchases into the first half of the year. For instance, average existing home sales over the first seven months of 2010 were nearly 8 percent higher than over the same period a year ago.

Moreover, house prices still appear to be stabilizing. Nationally, house prices rose 0.9 percent on a seasonally-adjusted basis during the second quarter of this year after 11 consecutive quarterly declines, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's purchase only index. Eight of the nine census regions experienced positive gains, compared to none in the first quarter