Local realtors are met with a persistent problem: People just aren’t buying homes.

The problem is two-fold — there aren’t enough homes on the market, and customers are still wary to buy, local Realtor Andrew Walter said Friday.

More than 1,000 homes were on the market in July, up nearly 40 percent over last year, according to a report released by the Southland Regional Association of Realtors.

But just 244 homes changed hands, the report stated.

That’s because the majority of the houses and condominiums on the market were caught up in the lengthy, labyrinthine short-sale process.

And homes available for sale are met with hesitant buyers and banks, Walter said.

Last month, 176 homes were sold, down 25 percent from the same month last year. Another 68 condominiums were sold, a 23-percent drop.

A short sale is similar to a preforeclosure. Cash-strapped homeowners make an agreement with their lender to sell the home for less than the homeowner owes.

But it could take months to close a deal with this type of transaction because it involves deal-making between multiple people all jockeying for the best deal — the original homeowner, as well as the bank and the buyer — if not others. On top of that, any of the parties could back out at any time.

“These short sales are such a huge, cumbersome, involved, long-term project,” Walter said. “A lot of these homes sit there, and they look like they’re available, or look like they’re pending, and they just go on forever. I’ve got one I’ve been working on for a year.”

Another nearly insurmountable obstacle is basic public opinion.

“What we’ve got right now is low prices, low interest rates — the lowest interest rates in 60 years,” Walter said.

“You’d think people would be jumping in. But people go, ‘Well, the economy is not so great, maybe prices will get lower...’

“There’s no sense of urgency because people are not quite sure where this is going. They’re like, ‘Well, we’ll see what happens.’”

While most citizens are dragging their feet, investors and first-time homebuyers are taking action. Even enthusiastic buyers face challenges, though, said Andrew Alter, president of the Realtors Association’s Santa Clarita Valley division.

“There are plenty of buyers out there who want to take advantage of the low prices and record-low interest rates,” Alter said in a statement.

Pending escrows, a measure of future activity, suggest that the housing market will be sluggish for months. There were 360 open escrows at the end of July, down 15 percent from last year. And July is typically one of the busiest months, the report states.