Home sales in eastern Connecticut soared 13 percent in the second quarter while prices remained stable compared with a year ago, according to real estate statistics released Tuesday.

Quarterly statistics released by the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors, which covers New London and Windham counties, showed nearly 1,000 single-family home sales in the key April-through-June period. That's the most number of spring sales since 2006, before the Great Recession tooks its toll on the local real estate market.

"They're encouraging numbers," said John Bolduc, chief executive of the local Realtors association.

Bolduc pointed out that June sales totaling 388 were particularly encouraging, since the number was nearly 20 percent higher than in same month a year earlier.

But the median price of a single-family home sold in the second quarter was $190,000, the same median that had been recorded a year earlier. Flat prices, said Bolduc, are likely to remain another year in the region until bank-owned properties — known as REOs in real estate parlance — have been largely sold off.

"REOs are keeping the numbers down," Bolduc said. "There's a lot of junk being sold to investors."

Bolduc said low-end homes are moving quickly as investors and first-time homebuyers snatch them up. It will take longer for the same effect to spill over into higher-end homes, he said.

Condominium sales also saw a rise in the second quarter, though the 8.6 percent increase was less modest than for single-family homes. And the median sales price of $130,000 was down nearly 2 percent from the second-quarter numbers a year ago.

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow

Single-family home sales: 996, up 12.9 percent

Single-family median price: $190,000, no change

Condominium sales: 126, up 8.6 percent

Condominium median price: $130,000, down 1.9 percent

Multifamily sales: 75, up 20.1 percent

Multifamily median price: $93,000, up 24 percent

SOURCE: Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors