AP

While new real estate figures point to continuing problems from coast to coast, the Northwest remains extremely strong. The flip side is, if you're searching to buy a home, it can still be awfully expensive. 

New reports are indicating that home sales in the Seattle area are still bright, unlike the rest of the country.

According to the National Association of Realtors, sales of single-family, existing homes - hit hard by turmoil in the credit markets - fell for a sixth straight month in August across the nation, pushing real estate activity to the lowest point in five years.  That means there's a glut of unsold homes in the U.S. at an 18-year high. 

While home sales are still highly competitive in Western Washington, realtors say there are more houses up for sale right now than just a few months ago. 

"The market inventory has increased over the summer months time frame, so we're helping our buyers buy smart in today's market," said Lennox Scott, John L. Scott Real Estate chairman and CEO. 

While California suffers in the housing crisis, our state's economy is flourishing with strong job growth and some of the highest appreciation in home prices in the U.S.  The outlook remains so strong because so many people are moving here in response to the hot job market, especially in the Seattle area, but the recent nationwide credit woes have had an impact. 

"Just recently, we've been affected by the turbulence in the mortgage market, so sales in August and September have lowered the sales activity," said Scott. 

Still, economists say, with employment incredibly vibrant, there's less likelihood of homeowners defaulting on mortgages - a big problem in most of the country as sub-prime borrowers are now unable to make their loan payments. 

The fall in sales pushed the nationwide inventory of unsold homes to a record 4.5 million last month.  That means it would take 10 months to exhaust the inventory of homes on the market at the August sales pace, also a record figure.