More homes were sold for the fourth straight month compared to last year in the Sacramento and Amador County areas, according to Dataquick, a statistics gathering service. In fact, July sales were the highest for a month since June 2006. There were 1,200 more sales in July than the same month last year. It appears that prices have now dropped to a level for buyers to start returning to the market, including first-time buyers who have good credit, jobs and some cash to put down. August is generally the month when inventory peaks. Houses on the market are down over 21 percent from the same time last year but the rate of decline has slowed considerably and will take an inventory level south of 10,000 to stop the decline in prices. According to Dataquick, the median asking price for the homes currently on the market is 299,000 dollars.