The largest sales gain during the third quarter was in Arizona, up 28.3 percent from the second quarter, followed by California, which rose 28.1 percent and Nevada, up 26.2 percent.

The steepest declines in single-family home prices in the third quarter were in three California markets: the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area, where the median price of $227,200 dropped 39.4 percent from a year ago, followed by Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville at $212,000, down 36.8 percent from the third quarter of 2007, and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, where the price dropped 36.0 percent to $377,300.

The largest single-family home price increase in the third quarter was in the Elmira, N.Y., area, where the median price of $105,000 rose 12.5 percent from a year ago. Next was Decatur, Ill., at $93,400, up 8.7 percent from the third quarter of 2007, followed by the Bloomington-Normal, Ill., area, where the third-quarter median price increased 8.1 percent to $168,400.

Median third-quarter metro area single-family home prices ranged from an affordable $65,800 in the Saginaw-Saginaw Township North area of Michigan to $650,000 in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara area of California. The second most expensive area was San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, at $615,700, followed by Honolulu at $615,000.

Regionally, existing-home sales in the West rose 13.1 percent in the third quarter to an annual rate of 1.15 million and are 12.4 percent above a year ago. In the Midwest, existing-home sales rose 2.7 percent in the third quarter to a pace of 1.15 million but remain 10.6 percent below a year ago. In the South, existing-home sales slipped 1.4 percent in the third quarter to an annual rate of 1.87 million and are 13.8 percent lower than the same period in 2007. In the Northeast, existing-home sales declined 1.6 percent in the third quarter to a level of 863,000 units and are 11.7 percent below a year ago.