Temple-Belton area homes sales are down. But local realtors’ hopes are up. Just give it a little time, they say, and things will turn around.

For June, which is typically a busy month in the real estate business, sales have dropped by 74 units, a 30 percent decrease from June 2007.

Comparing the first half of 2008 to the same period last year, 143 fewer homes sold, a 12 percent drop.

For 2008, sales are down every month except May, which had an increase of one.

Local real estate professionals say several factors have people sitting on their hands instead of patrolling neighborhoods looking for a new home. High energy prices, plus anxiety over national news about the economy, plus the war in Iraq, plus a little overbuilding, all equals fewer homebuyers.

“This is a four or five-fingered problem,” said Rodney Dunn, president of Rodney Dunn Co. “We used to say, well it’s just a presidential election year. After November things will calm down. That’s just one of the things we’re juggling right now.”

But don’t talk doom and gloom to Terri Covington. She’s the president of the Temple-Belton Board of Realtors and says although June was a bad month, and nobody has a crystal ball to see what lies ahead, Temple is not a declining market.

Ms. Covington says people are still moving to Bell County because it offers a good value compared to other parts of Texas and the nation. She partially attributes lagging sales to local families not stepping into larger homes.

“We’re not seeing as much of people moving around,” Ms. Covington said. “They don’t necessarily want to pick this time to move up from the two-bedroom to the four-bedroom, because they’re a little fearful of everything in the news.”

Although fewer people are buying homes in the area, prices have remained stable.

The median home price - which is a more accurate measure than average - is up to $120,000, a $5,000 increase over last year. Median home price is the number that falls in the middle of the price ranges of those sold. The average home price can be skewed by an unusually high or low price of a home sold.

Another housing market indicator - average days on market - has gone up this year slightly, from 116 to 121, or about four months.

Overall, local real estate professionals say it’s just a matter of time before things pick up.

“Where our market has slowed down, it doesn’t mean that there’s not desire in the market to buy, or a need to buy, it just means that people maybe are waiting,” Dunn said. “I think once the election is over and we get past mid-November our sales will go up.”