After a brief cooldown in July, Lane County home prices edged back into record territory last month, according to a new report.

Houses that sold across the county in August went for a median price of $299,000, the monthly report by the Portland-based Regional Multiple Listing Service found. That figure eclipsed the previous record of $297,000 reached in June. The Portland firm has tracked Lane County's housing market since 2001.

"It's just a sign that our local market is continuing to head in an upward direction," said Elliott Wood, owner and principal broker of Windermere Real Estate's Eugene office. "The market as a whole is growing, not just specific price points or specific neighborhoods."

The countywide median sale price was $275,000 in August 2017. Prices have risen 8.7 percent during the last 12 months.

The county saw 711 new for-sale listings in August, up from 680 listings the same month one year ago. The 575 closed sales last month was up from 519 a year ago.

The figures don't include home sales in the Florence area, which are tallied separately.

The rising prices are a dream come true for sellers, who are fielding multiple offers in a short time frame and driving up sale prices.

But years of record-low housing supply are also behind the rising prices. The RMLS report pegged Lane County's housing inventory at just 1.7 months last month, meaning it would take that long to sell all of the houses currently on the market based on today's sale pace.

Most real estate agents consider six months of inventory a healthy rate. But Lane County's inventory has been 2.5 months or less since mid-2016, and below two months since December.

Houses that sold in August were on the market for an average of 36 days, meanwhile. To date in 2018, houses have sold after an average of 45 days, down from 51 days over the same span a year ago.

"There's just a huge lack of inventory on the lower end," said Isaac Judd, owner and principal broker of Eugene-based Hearthstone Real Estate. "Those homes aren't coming on the market."

Several factors are keeping those properties off the market, Judd said. The simplest is that new lower-end houses aren't being built at a fast enough pace to keep up with demand.

But rapidly rising prices in the middle of the market are preventing first-time buyers from moving out and into bigger houses, particularly in Eugene, he said. Meanwhile, retirees looking to downsize are increasingly in the market for the same lower-priced houses that potential first-time buyers want.

"We're not a very affordable place right now," Judd said. "I think Eugene and Corvallis are competing for least affordable in our area."

Follow Elon Glucklich on Twitter @EGlucklich. Email elon.glucklich@registerguard.com.