Home-sale agreements in the nine-county central Indiana region fell 15.4 percent in December compared to the same month of 2009, according to a report released Wednesday by F.C. Tucker Co.

For the entire year, pending home sales dropped 10.9 percent from 2009, Tucker said.

Sales agreements fell  to 1,147 last month, down from 1,355 in December 2009. The decline marked the eighth straight month that year-over-year home sales have slumped in central Indiana. The area experienced three straight months of improving sales activity early in the year thanks to generous federal tax incentives.

Overall, pending sales in 2010 sank to 21,594, down from 24,223 in 2009.

Pending home sales account for sales agreements, not sales that have closed.

In Marion County, December sales agreements fell 20 percent compared with the previous year, from 649 to 519. For all of 2010, sales agreements in Marion County dropped 13.9 percent from 2009.

Pending sales dropped 16.3 percent in December in Hamilton County, from 246 to 206, and 8.7 percent in Hendricks County, from 103 to 94.

For 2010, the average sale price of a home sold in central Indiana was $150,161, up 8.2 percent from 2009, the report said.

Active listings dipped 0.2 percent last month, from 14,105 to 14,074.