Orange County's median home price increased by nearly $8,000 in August from July, as sales of lower-priced foreclosures here and across the Southland continued to decline.

The median price of an OC home was $427,750 in August, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.

August’s median sale price is the highest OC’s seen in 10 months.

Median prices here still are down about 3% from a year earlier and are off more than 30% from their all-time high in June 2007.

August sales totals in OC fell about 3% from July, but were up nearly 3% from a year earlier.

The median price of a Southern California home was $275,000 in August, a 2.6% increase from July but a nearly 17% decline from a year earlier, MDA DataQuick reported. The median peaked at $505,000 in mid-2007.

It was the fourth straight month-to-month gain for median home prices in the Southland, aided largely by a shift in the mix of homes being sold.

Southland sales totals in August declined about 11% from July levels, due to a thinning inventory of foreclosures and lingering financial uncertainty among potential home buyers, MDA DataQuick reported.

Foreclosure sales—where a foreclosure had occurred at some point in the prior year—made up about 39% of all Southland sales last month, down from 43% the month prior and a high of 57% in February.

Southland sales totals in August were up 11% from a year ago.