Bay Area home sales plummeted in July, when compared to the same month a year ago. But, the decline was not entirely unexpected, due to the expiration of federal homebuyer tax credits.Real estate tracker DataQuick says Alameda County saw one of the biggest drops with 23% fewer sales. However, it also had one of the biggest gains in sales prices, up from $340,000 in July of last year to $381,000 this past July. The company says higher end neighborhoods represented a bigger portion of transactions with almost 40% in the half million dollar range or more. Click to Listen

John Pinto, with Realty World Silicon Valley, and a past president of the Santa Clara County Association of Realtors, says it all depends on your definition of high end.

“You know, for $500,000 that’s going to be more high end in Contra Costa than it will in San Mateo,” Pinto said.

“In San Mateo, $500,000 is not high end. It’s kind of like the bottom of the barrel.”Pinto says that without federal incentives there is no urgency for first-time buyers to make offers on homes. However, he says he is glad to see prices up by 9% in Santa Clara County from last July.

“I think we hit rock bottom in around May of ’09. There’s a lot of conversation about double-dip recession and things of that nature. I don’t think we’re done,” Pinto said.