The big question in Sacramento late last year was whether the bottom would fall out of regional home sales in 2006. February results, just out, suggest things are just returning to normal, after several superheated years.

The median price for existing homes is about 8% higher than a year earlier – no longer the double digit increases that had been the norm, but not sinking either. It’s now $380,000. And the number of homes sold was up slightly from January, although trailing last February’s home sales by 30%.

The National Association of Realtors reports that home sales across America were about the same this February as a year earlier.