SAN FRANCISCO -- The real estate bubble refuses to pop, as residential property prices in the Bay Area remain on record-breaking pace.

The median Bay Area home price in August was $619,000, a new record that was up 2.1 percent from $606,000 in July and smashed August 2004 home prices by $99,000, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

"California has by far one of the highest housing markets in the nation," DataQuick researcher John Karevoll said.

Marin County had the highest median home price in the Bay Area at $822,000 and Solano County had the lowest at $474,000.

Generally the monthly mortgage payment that Bay Area homebuyers forked out was $2,761 in August. That is up $109 from July and $420 from this time last year, according to DataQuick statistics.

A total of 12,154 homes and condominiums were sold in the nine-county region last month, up 6 percent from July, which saw the sale of 11,470 residences, DataQuick reported.

DataQuick reported that the total number of homes and condominiums sold this August was down 4.1 percent from August of 2004.

"We're a bit surprised at how stable the market is in all categories," DataQuick President Marshall Prentice said in a statement. "This stability means that the market will probably stay strong at least through the end of the year."

Based on its findings, DataQuick reported no cooling trend in home prices on the horizon.

"This increase in prices that we're seeing has been going on for a year and a half now," Karevoll said. "It's all cyclical. What goes up must come down, but that might not happen anytime soon."

However, Raj Singh, a realtor with EastBay Homes Realty, said that buyers should not feel intimidated by the high property prices.

"With the recent increase in prices there has also been an increase in creativity amongst lenders to get buyers into homes," Singh said. "The options for home buyers are much greater now."