Home sales continued to suffer from the mortgage market turmoil last month.

Sales of existing homes fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units in September, an 8 percent drop from the month before, according to the National Association of Realtors.  That’s also down 19.1 percent from September 2006.

Third quarter sales, however, finished slightly better than expected with a 5.42 million annual rate, compared with the 5.38 million forecast by the association.

The national median existing-home price also dropped, hitting $211,700 — 4.2 percent below September of last year. The fall follows three months of stability comparing year-ago prices, however.

In the West, sales declined 9.9 percent in September and were down 27.8 percent from a year ago. The median price was $308,900 — 8.8 percent lower than September 2006.

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