Realtors and builders both report that the buyer enthusiasm drummed up by the tax credits is lingering through the dog days of summer.

Linda Finch, a Realtor with Paradigm AdvantEdge Real Estate, said she'd seen bidding wars return to the marketplace, with some buyers paying more than sellers are asking to secure their dream home.

Determination on both the buying and selling side of deals has some people striking deals that otherwise would have been derailed by appraisals coming in less than an agreed-upon price. Finch said she'd had buyers and sellers split the difference to overcome such a pricing gap.

At midyear, homes were selling almost two workweeks faster than last summer — in 75 days on average in June, compared with 86 days in June 2009, according to the Oklahoma City Metro Association of Realtors.

Nonetheless, sales were off 6 percent in June compared with the year before and off 6.2 percent from May.

A sign of strength, however, was the average sale price of $160,570 was virtually flat with the average of $159,400 in June 2009, and the median price of $138,000 was a 2.2 percent increase over the year-ago median of $135,000.