Home sales in California jumped nearly 27 percent from March to April as bargain hunters found it easier to get loans and pick up property on the cheap.

DataQuick Information Systems released statewide numbers Tuesday, after reporting similarly positive figures for the San Francisco Bay area, which saw a nearly 29 percent jump during the same period.

But home prices continue to drop around California, a sign that home owners are still finding it hard to unload their properties without steep discounts. The median price paid for a home last month was $353,000 -- down 1.1 percent from the month before and down nearly 27 percent from the year-ago period.

A total of 31,150 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month.