Although home sales remain mired in a market of oversupply, Realtors and sellers can point to some good news in the form of rising sales, especially over the last two months.

And, in the current market, any positive news is welcome.

A recent DataQuick survey of Orange County homes found that sales in September rose 6.5 percent from one year ago. The bad news for sellers was that the median selling price dropped 6.7% from last year.

The current median price in Orange County is $420,000. In Fountain Valley, the median price stands at $559,000, according to eVantage Real Estate.

But the drop in price is somewhat deceiving. Much of the recent sales activity has been for lower-priced homes attractive to investors and families starting out. With lower-priced homes leading the way, median prices slipped.

However, in some cases, higher-priced homes have gone up in value.

Agent Greg Haraksin, blogging on www.trulia.com, wrote that overall home prices in Orange County rose 9.5 percent in August, despite the median price dropping.

“When you have nearly 400 more sales in one month and the number of sales under $400,000 is nearly 4-1 over [homes priced] $700,000, your median price is going to fall,” he said. He added that homes in prime condition and properly staged are likely to garner over-list-price, especially if they are equity sales.

The best sales, shown in the DataQuick report, were for single-family homes. They rose 9.1 percent from one year ago.

Condo sales up just 2.6 percent. Median pricing for condos fell 13.3 percent compared to 9.5 percent for houses.

New-home prices held up the best, with a 5.6 percent drop in median price.

What was really startling was a 35 percent drop in the median selling price of a single-family home from June 2007 to now.

Looking ahead, housing tracker Veros forecasts a 1 percent drop in median prices for Orange County homes by September 2012. One of the reasons is that supply remains high.

Fountain Valley continues to have several months of home inventory, based on the current sales rate. That’s good for buyers because they can find plenty of choices.

Also, Fountain Valley buyers will find that 53 percent of homes on the market have had to reduce their selling price. Homes currently spend an average of 117 days on the market.

Countywide, more than 1,000 home-sellers have taken their homes off the market. Some will wait for better market conditions.

That leaves more than 10,000 Orange County homes for sale, according to estimates.

What it all means is that a buyer’s market continues in full force. But sellers see some positive signs, especially in terms of sales numbers.

And with a potential drop in inventories over the next year, pricing could perk up slightly or at least stabilize. But much will depend on economic conditions and improvements in the job market.