There are mixed signals coming from the housing market, with forecasters predicting further home-price drops at the same time that indexes show prices rebounding.

   The latest: The California Association of Realtors reported Thursday another monthly gain in the median price of an existing single-family home in May with the smallest annual decline in a while. The report shows:

   The median house price in Orange County was $474,110.That's up 9.7 percent from April, the fourth monthly gain in five months.That's down 17.4 percent from May 2008, the smallest annual decline in 14 months. Sales were up 17.9 percent from a year ago.

   Statewide, the Realtors group reported a median house price of $267,570, up 4.2 percent from April, but down 30.4 percent from a year ago.

   "With affordability for first-time buyers at a record high, sales of existing, single-family homes continued to remain above the 500,000 level for the ninth consecutive month," President James Liptak said.

      The median number of days it took to sell a California house was 53.5 days in May, up from 49.2 days a year earlier, the association said.The group's unsold inventory index for existing, single-family homes was 4.2 months in May, down from 8.7 months a year earlier.The index shows the time needed to deplete the supply of homes on the market at the current sales rate.

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