Bay Area home sales fell 4 percent and the median price slid 8 percent in February from a year earlier, the California Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.

The median single-family home price declined to $444,020 last month, down from $482,970 in February 2010.

For all of California, the median single-family home price dropped nearly 3 percent from last year to $271,320. That was the lowest price since May 2009, when it reached $263,440.

February sales fell 4 percent to 497,660 homes.

“With continued concerns about both the economy and housing market, consumers remain tentative moving forward with any home buying plans,” association President Beth L. Peerce said in a statement.

The Press Democrat reported in Tuesday’s print edition that the median sales price for single-family homes in Sonoma County fell 7 percent to $325,000 from a year earlier. The newspaper’s monthly housing report is prepared by Coldwell Banker manager Rick Laws.

County sales declined to 296 homes, down 2 percent from February 2010.

Is this, as one local agent said in today’s Press Democrat, the “new normal?”

— Robert Digitale