TAMPA - Here - finally - may be some good news for those awaiting evidence of a housing turnaround. But the gleam of hope is coming at the expense of homeowners who can't afford to hang on to their houses.

Sales of existing homes bounced a surprising 5 percent in the Tampa Bay area in July compared with the same month a year ago, according to data released Monday by the Florida Association of Realtors.

That's the largest increase in sales of single-family, existing homes since they started to fall in December 2005. It follows a modest 3 percent decline from May to June. The only other time there was a 12-month increase was in May, when sales edged up 1 percent from the previous year.

Tampa's numbers buck the trend nationally, where sales were down 13 percent from a year ago, and in Florida, where sales were almost equal to last July.

The good news comes with a heavy price for those losing their homes to foreclosure or forced to sell for far less than they paid. The uptick is a result of prices falling deep enough to draw bargain hunters, said Chris Lafakis, who covers the state for Moody's Economy .com.

"Those price declines are very important for sales to bottom," Lafakis said. "It's now affordable for many people to buy houses."

How low have prices fallen locally? The median sales price, a point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less, fell 18 percent to $176,500. It was $215,600 in July 2007. Compare that to $239,600 in June 2006, when prices peaked locally.

Statewide, the median sales price fell 19 percent in July, from $238,900 to $193,600.

Distressed properties, Lafakis said, make up 40 percent of all sales nationally. "I expect that number to be much higher in Florida."

Nick Davis, a real estate agent with ReMax Premier Group, said he's working with 17 buyers now. They're all looking for the "best price," and they all called looking for a short sale or foreclosure property for sale.

Short sales, which occur when a lender accepts less than the mortgage and writes off the rest, aren't for everyone because they can take months to complete, Davis said.

"We're seeing people come off the fence because the prices have dropped and homes are affordable again," Davis said.

More bargain hunters may follow. Moody's is calling for prices to continue falling in Florida. In the Tampa Bay area, Moody's predicts sales prices to decline until late 2009. Prices peaked locally during the second quarter of 2006. Lafakis said he expects prices to drop 44 percent from the peak before prices bottom.

The monthly sales comparisons in Florida aren't as good as the yearly ones.

In the Bay area, which includes Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, 2,174 homes changed hands in July, up from 2,068 in July 2007. Compared with June, when 2,346 homes sold, sales were down 7 percent.

Statewide, sales were flat. There were 11,498 homes sold in July, an increase of only eight sales from a year ago. Compared with June, sales were down 2 percent.

In a separate report, the National Association of Realtors says sales nationwide fell when compared with a year ago, but were up in the short term.

Nationally, sales of existing homes rose 3.1 percent in July, compared to the previous month.

Sales were 13.2 percent lower than a year ago, and prices were down overall, although not as dramatically low as in Florida. The median price for a home sold in July dropped to $212,000, down by 7.1 percent from a year ago.

Despite the third monthly sales jump this year, the number of unsold single-family homes and condos rose to 4.67 million, the highest number since 1968, when the Realtors group started tracking the data.

Although buyers are pouncing on lower prices, sales are sluggish in formerly stable states, such as Texas.

"People are responding to lower prices," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the Realtors group, but there is "too much uncertainty" about the housing market's future, he said, to mark a definite bottom.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Shannon Behnken can be reached at sbehnken@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7804.