California home sales hit a 12-year low for the month of June, with the slowdown hitting hardest in the most affordable counties, a real estate research firm said Wednesday.

In all, 38,291 new and resale houses and condos were sold last month across the state, making it the slowest June since 1995, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Home sales were down 32.8 percent compared to June 2006 but posted a modest 3.6 percent gain since May, DataQuick said.

On an annual basis, home sales have declined for the past 21 months.

A nationwide survey of lenders by Bankrate.com found that while closing costs are lower than last year, residents of some states continue to pay considerably more than others.

The Bankrate.com survey — conducted by obtaining six to nine good faith estimates for a $200,000 loan from online mortgage lenders — found closing costs averaged $2,736 nationwide. That’s down 9.5 percent from 2006, when closing costs averaged $3,024.

But average closing costs varied widely from state to state, from a high of $3,830 in New York, to a low of $2,339 in Indiana.

Despite a drop in home purchases, last week’s jump in refinancing applications pushed overall volume higher, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The market composite index, a measure of mortgage application volume, edged up 0.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before. The index that tracks refinancings rose 4.9 percent from the first week of July, while the purchase index fell 1.6 percent.

As a result, the refinance share of mortgage activity increased to 37.7 percent of applications from 36.2 percent the previous week, and the adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share rose from 20.4 percent to 21 percent.