While local home sales were down from July to August to September, year-to-date sales are holding steady, local Realtors said this week.

Nationally, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development released numbers that show the September 2015 sales were down 11.53 percent from August 2015, at 468,000 units sold.

In August, there were 529,000 units sold nationwide and 503,000 sold in July.

Locally, 31 homes were sold in July; 25 in August and 21 in September.

“However, in comparing 2014, with the current year, the residential sales volume is nearly the same this year at $21,604,889 with a volume of $21,860,437 at the same time last year,” said local Realtor Tripp Bass. “It’s hard to compare our small rural Covington County market with a national average for 30-day periods.”

Bass said more units have been sold in 2015 than in 2014.

Some 232 homes have sold this year to date, compared to 197 last year.

The average selling price is down slightly from $110,967 last year to $93,125 this year.

“We could certainly see an increase in the average sales price before the end of 2015,” he said. “Mortgage rates are still low and traffic remains steady.”

Nationwide, new home sales in the United State peaked in July 2005, when the annualized rate of sales reached 1.3 million units.

In April 2008, new home sales hit an all-time low, with an annualized rate of just 536,000 units.