Home sale prices continue to rise in Pahrump Valley despite a softer market this year, according to statistics released by Equity Title of Nevada.

The company's marketing department statistics showed an average sale price of a single-family residence in Pahrump Valley at $276,999, based on the sales of 190 homes in the first half of 2006.

That's an increase from an average price of $269,542 on sales of 224 homes in the second half of 2005 and an average price of $246,885 in the first half of 2005 based on sales of 232 homes.

The total number of sales, however, has dropped from 232 to 224 to 190 homes in each of the last three six-month periods.

Sale prices have more than doubled in five years. The owner of a single-family home would've paid $132,021 in 2001, based on sales of 109 homes, using statistics from Equity Title.

The average price per square foot has increased from $75 to $160 for a single-family residence.

The average lot size of a single-family home sold this year was 48,092 square feet. An acre measures 43,559 square feet. However, the figures could be skewed by statistics which show that the largest lot measured 998,395 square feet.

Equity Title identified 64 owner-occupied homes -- a home where the mailing address matched the site address -- out of the 190 homes sold in the first half of 2006. The other 126 homes are listed as absentee owners, but Equity Title Assistant Sales Manager Eric Cifani said that could mean the tax bill is sent to another postal address, the homes could be occupied by renters or its used as a second home.

The company search for the three zip codes in Pahrump listed an average of 88 days on the market for homes sold in the 89060 zip code, to 62 days for homes in the 89048 zip code.

A study of mobile homes showed an average sale price of $162,811 based on 187 sales for the first half of 2006. That's up slightly from $162,380 in the second half of 2005 and $131,350 in the first half of 2005.

The five-year analysis showed the average mobile home price almost doubling from $83,253 in 2001, a year when there were 116 sales transactions.