Douglas County’s May real estate numbers looked somewhat better than they did in April, but the market was still far from showing a positive trend, County Appraiser Marion Johnson said Wednesday.

After Johnson’s sales department worked 181 sales last month, it brought the county’s yearly total to 526 sales.

However, that is still behind the 635 total sales at this point in 2008.

“The market is still trending downward, just maybe not quite as much as you see nationwide,” Johnson said.

The average sale price is also down about 4 percent from this point in 2008.

Residential sales are fetching an average price of $188,100. But compared with the average April price of $179,900, the May numbers are closer to the overall 2008 average of $191,200.

Johnson said the bottom didn’t start to fall out in 2008 until August, when the economic recession began to hit hard. He also warned against comparing monthly real estate sales numbers to gauge a market turnaround.

Sales of higher-priced houses could skew monthly numbers, he said. At this point, he still expects county property values for 2010 to decrease.

“It’s a broad picture you look at and not necessarily a month-to-month one,” Johnson said.

This is also Johnson’s final week on the job as he retires after 18 years as the county’s appraiser. It will be the Douglas County Commission’s job to appoint his successor.

Pam Madl, the assistant county administrator, said 10 people have applied for the job. Commissioners will likely decide next week how to proceed with interviews, she said.

County Administrator Craig Weinaug said he would make an announcement soon about who would direct the appraiser’s office in the interim period.