Connecticut's "puzzling" year in real estate continued in October, with home sales recording additional substantive gains while prices fell once again.

Statistics released this week by The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record, showed a 9.2 percent rise in single-family home sales in October compared with the same month a year ago. But the median home price was $235,000 statewide, down from $241,600 last October.

"The continued increase in sales volume is a welcome sign for Connecticut's local economy, as many new home buyers spend money furnishing their homes, and homes on the market provide work for contractors and tradespeople before and after a sale," Tim Warren Jr., chief executive of The Warren Group, said in a statement.

"The on-going decline in home prices has been modest, but puzzling given that home sales are up 14.2 (percent) so far this year. Home buyers obviously like the fact that prices are still well below their historical peaks."

In New London County, single-family sales defied the statewide trend, plunging 19 percent, while the median price fell to $185,000. That's well off last October's median of $222,750.

Local home sales so far this year, however, are up nearly 14 percent. The median price for the first 10 months of the year was $209,900 in New London County, about $10,000 off of last year's prices.

Statewide, October sales numbers were the best since 2006. But that year the median price of a home was $274,586, nearly $40,000 more than this year's single-family median.

"This is a great time to buy now and lock in lower interest rates," Warren said in a podcast.

Condominium sales were not quite as strong as for single-family homes in October, up more than 6 percent. And the $155,000 median price was nearly 8 percent lower than in the same month a year ago.

In New London County, sales were off about 6 percent while the $126,000 median price was up slightly from October of last year. In October 2014, the median condo price was $121,000.

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow