SENECA — The Tri-County area of Oconee, Pickens and Anderson counties are on pace to record its lowest number of home sales over the past five years, South Carolina Realtors (SCR) statistics show.

SCR market information released Tuesday for the Western Upstate area reflected a 31 percent drop in sales from 384 to 264 last month. At that pace, Tri-County home sales would top out at about 3,100, the lowest total since 2004 when 3,438 homes were sold.

The local housing market peaked in 2005 and 2006 when 4,209 and 4,236 homes sold those years, respectively. Air seeped from the local housing bubble in 2007 when 3,841 homes sold.

The slide continued this year with 1,781 homes sold year-to-date, a decline of 24.8 percent compared to the 2,368 homes sold during the same period in 2007.

The slowdown in sales could easily be attributed to banks’ reluctance to dish out loans with the ease with which they were underwritten during the housing boom peak in 2005 and 2006.

In many cases, lenders were approving mortgage loans with little or no money down and through creative financing that some experts say put the squeeze on homeowners and banking institutions alike as the number of foreclosures skyrocketed nationwide.

Although sales have declined steadily since fall of 2006, median home prices have held steady. Through the first two quarters of 2008 the median price stood at $134,000 or less than 2 percent that the $136,000 median price through the same period last year.

The median price is the point where half of homes sell for more and the other half for less.

Nick Kremydas, SCR’s chief executive officer, said he was confident that with prices leveling off, and the housing inventory shrinking, a rebound in the market may just be around the corner.

“Despite the slowdown in the market, I think we’re near the bottom,” Kremydas said. “We are optimistic that the passage of the housing stimulus bill and easing oil prices will result in increased sales.”

Kremydas is hopeful the up-tick would begin toward the end of the fourth quarter and continue through the start of 2009.