Home sales in California increased in October but prices fell as buyers went after more affordable homes, the California Association of Realtors said Tuesday. In October, sales of existing, single-family detached homes stood at a seasonally adjusted 493,240 units, up nearly 1 percent from last month and 8.5 percent from last year, the real estate organization said. The statewide median home price fell 3.3 percent in October to $278,060 compared with last month. That price was down nearly 9 percent from last year. Beginning in October, the federal government decreased the loan limit on mortgages it would back or purchase through Fannie, Freddie and the Federal Housing Administration. In Los Angeles County that limit dropped to $625,500 from $ $729,750, according to a database on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s website. “Based on preliminary analysis, it appears that the lower conforming loan limits has had a cooling effect on home sales in October, particularly in the higher cost markets across the state, such as the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal regions of Southern California,” C.A.R. President LeFrancis Arnold said in a statement. The state-wide sales figures compiled by C.A.R. are the tally for homes sales in 2011 if October’s pace remained steady, when adjusted for seasonal trends. In Los Angeles County, sales were up 2.6 percent compared with the previous month, although the median home price fell nearly 7 percent to $307,970. The change in federal policy caused buyers to seek out lower priced homes “so their mortgages would meet the criteria for the lower limit” on Fannie, Freddie and FHA loans, C.A.R vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young said in a statement. That, along with the fact “others were unable to qualify for nonconforming loans that typically have higher down payment requirements and higher mortgage rates,” drove down prices, she said.