With lower-end homes in the region selling at a brisk pace over the past year, median prices are inevitably on the downswing.

The Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors reported Monday that the median price paid for a single-family home in the first quarter of the year was $169,450. That's down nearly 6 percent from the median price during the same period last year of $179,900.

But John Bolduc, chief executive of the Realtors association that covers New London and Windham counties, pointed out that average prices paid for single-family homes went up last quarter and that overall volume rose as well.

"It's mixed," Bolduc said. "We're not out of the woods."

In five of the past six quarters, median home prices in the region showed either a down trend or were unchanged. By contrast, sales have been on the rise in nine consecutive quarters, according to Realtors association figures.

Les Bray, a real estate analyst who runs Stonington-based Sound Investment Consultants, pointed out that the largest growth in the New London County real estate market has been for homes priced under $100,000. Over the past year, 403 homes in the lowest price point were sold, compared to only 269 in the preceding period.

And most of those homes, he said, were bank-owned properties that had been foreclosed on. It is the foreclosures, Bolduc added, that have kept the lid on local home prices, and he suspected the trend of flat prices despite stronger sales would continue.

"We still have another year of REOs (bank-taken properties) and foreclosures - at least," he said.

Bolduc was hopeful that a measure encouraging foreclosure sales by market sale - which would allow banks and owners to collaborate on the marketing of a distressed property to speed up the process - would pass in this year's state legislative session. Such collaborative sales would allow homebuyers and investors to inspect a property, which Bolduc said is not an option in a foreclosure auction, and would have the effect of boosting prices.

Despite the lower median prices, Bolduc said, eight properties in the region sold at $1 million or above in the first quarter.

"There's still some momentum on the high end," he said. "But there's still a huge supply of high-priced stuff."

Bray said the fact that sales in all single-family price ranges are up year-over-year is comforting, as is the increase in overall volume figures.

"People are at least in the market," he said. "They're getting the same house for less money."

He suspected that some of the downward pressure on prices is related to homeowners becoming more realistic about real estate trends. But there is still a bit of a disconnect, he said, because while local prices are trending lower, national news is making it sound like real estate is on a strong rebound.

l.howard@theday.com

First Quarter Real Estate Statistics

New London and Windham Counties

New London and Windham Counties

 

2013

2014

Change

Single-family home sales

567

588

 +3.7%

 +3.7%

Single-family median price

$179,900

 $169,450

 -5.8%

Condominium sales

 51

 76

 +49.0%

 +49.0%

Condominium median price

 $135,000

 $114,450

 -7.6%