An up-and-down year for real estate saw home sales in the region soar 10 percent last year, but prices remained essentially flat, according to statistics released Tuesday by the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors.

The association's statistics, which cover New London and Windham counties, masked deep differences between the two areas. New London County's median price for single-family homes last year fell more than 2 percent, while Windham County saw a gain of nearly 7 percent.

John Bolduc, chief executive of the local Realtors group, said he had no explanation for the disparity between the two regions, other than the fact Windham County prices tend to be lower and people may be migrating closer to jobs in cities such as Worcester, Mass.

"Quarter to quarter and month to month, it was all over the place," said Bolduc in assessing last year's numbers. "There's no clear direction that the market is moving except the number of sales has been steadily improving. Hopefully increased values will follow."

But Bolduc wasn't betting on it. Looking toward 2016, he said the most likely scenario is for another flat year for prices and perhaps more sales than seen last year.

"There's still a lot of pent-up demand," he said. "The numbers are up, and that's a good sign."

Prices are still being affected by an overhang of foreclosures and bank-owned properties locally that he said will take another year or so to remedy. A better economy and more jobs would help, he added, especially in hard-hit eastern Connecticut.

Bolduc said that despite improved numbers of sales this year, the overall market still has not returned to the normal level seen before the real estate bubble of 2004-07. And last year's $190,000 median price for single-family homes is at about the lowest point seen in more than a decade, he said.

The price trend in the fourth quarter was the worst of 2015, with the single-family median falling 2 percent compared with the same period last year. Condominium prices in the fourth quarter were even worse, with the median down 11 percent despite a similar percentage increase in sales.

The numbers were in line with November sales figures released Tuesday for all of Connecticut by The Warren Group, publisher of The Commercial Record. Single-family sales were up a robust 16 percent statewide during the month compared with the same period last year, but the median sale price fell 8 percent.

According to the Boston-based business publication, Connecticut home prices have slipped or remained unchanged for 23 of the past 25 months.

“It has been very much a buyer’s market in Connecticut,” Timothy Warren Jr., chief executive of The Warren Group, said in a statement. “Much of the growth in November were in Connecticut’s smaller cities and urban areas.”

So far this year, New London County has the third-highest growth in single-family sales among all counties in Connecticut, according to The Warren Group.

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow

Eastern Connecticut Real Estate: 2015 vs. 2014

Single-family units sold: 3,802, up 10.2 percent

Single-family median price: $190,000, up 0.05 percent

Condominiums sold: 456, up 5.5 percent

Condo median price: $130,000, up 5.5 percent

Multifamily units sold: 287, up 4.3 percent

Multifamily median price: $93,000, up 4.3 percent

Source: Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors