The inventory remains flat but prices were up for Island homes sold last month.

Numbers available from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service showed that despite the apparent increase in sales activity for Island homes and western Washington in general, the number of homes on the market or sold last month on the Island remained close to last year.

The total of new listings for the month was down 4 percent from 128 homes and condos on the market in July of 2012 down to 123 this past month.

The number of sales that were finalized for the month was 34 up from 30 a year ago for the month.

Final sale prices for those 34 however, took a big jump over July of last year ending up at a median of $962,000; an increase of more than 20 percent over July a year ago.

Single family homes still dominate the housing market here, with just 11 condos offered for sale last month; down by half from a year ago. The number of condo sales in the pipeline in July was 6; up from just 3 a year ago. The number of condo sales that closed totaled 4; up from a single condo sale finalized a year ago. The median final sale price for those four units was $227,500.