Single-family home sales this September increased 6.7 percent statewide but decreased 2.5 percent in eastern Connecticut, compared to last September, according to recent data from The Warren Group and the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors.

The Warren Group, a Massachusetts-based resource on real estate and financial information, released its September information Wednesday, while ECAR released both September and third-quarter data mid-October. ECAR gets its data from the SmartMLS listing service.

Warren Group CEO Tim Warren noted that while single-family home sales saw a significant gain in September, the 2019 total is still well behind 2018. For the first nine months of 2019, Connecticut saw a 3.3 percent decrease in single-family home sales, while eastern Connecticut saw a 4.6 percent decrease.

"I expect single-family sales to remain sluggish as the market winds down, and I don't foresee a major spike during the final months of the year to pull the number of sales even with 2018," Warren said in a news release.

The Warren Group reported a median sale price of $260,000 for Connecticut in September, an 11-year high for the month, while SmartMLS reported $225,000 for eastern Connecticut.

The median sale price for the third quarter of 2019 in eastern Connecticut was $235,000, the same as the second quarter, which was the highest it's been since 2008.

The average single-family home price for the third quarter in eastern Connecticut was $265,178, which ECAR CEO Susy Hurlbert noted is nearly a 5 percent increase over last year. The gap between the median and average sale price indicates that some higher-priced homes have sold.

Anecdotally, Hurlbert is hearing from real estate agents that "it's still the lower-priced homes that are flying off the shelves." She noted that ECAR Board President Ryan Lajoie got 11 offers on "just an OK house" that's on the market for $185,000 in Windham County, while a $259,000 house has no offers.

While the average number of days a single-family home spent on the market decreased 19 percent in the second quarter, from 84 last year to 68 this year, days on market increased 12.5 percent in the third quarter, from 56 last year to 63 this year.

But "the housing shortage has clearly continued, driving the price up still," Hurlbert said. She thinks it's still a seller's market, but that might be beginning to taper off.

Condo sales were up in September both statewide and for eastern Connecticut. They increased 2.2 percent statewide and 8.9 percent in eastern Connecticut, from 45 to 49 sales. The median sale price increased 0.6 percent statewide and 5.3 percent in eastern Connecticut.

Warren noted that this is the first time since September 2015 that the median condo price for the month increased on a year-over-year basis but "the year-to-date numbers continue to illustrate a lackluster condo market."

Commercial sales in eastern Connecticut for the third quarter decreased more than 38 percent from the same period last year, from 39 to 24 sales, but the median sale price increased nearly 50 percent to $227,500. Conversely, land sales increased but the median price decreased.

Time spent on the market decreased in the third quarter in this half of the state for condo, land, multifamily and commercial sales.

e.moser@theday.com