More than one out of every three major metro areas in the United States saw home sales prices hit their highest level in 2015 in October, according to the real estate data company RealtyTrac.

Prices in 33 of the 94 metro areas included in RealtyTrac's analysis, or 35 percent, were at their highest point in the year. The median sales price for single-family homes and condominiums in the U.S. reached $207,500, a 1 percent increase from the previous month and a 10 percent increase from October 2014.

The year-over-year change was the first double-digit increase since February 2014 and the most significant rise in prices since that month. Median home prices have climbed above the previous year for 44 months in a row, but remained below the record figure of $228,000 set in July 2005.

"Home price appreciation did not go into hibernation in October even as the housing market entered the typically slower fall season," said Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "More than one-third of the nation's major housing markets have now reached new home price peaks this year, and nearly 90 percent of markets posted an annual increase in home prices in October. Home sellers are sitting pretty in this market, realizing an average profit-since-purchase of 16 percent — the highest in any month since December 2007, on the cusp of the Great Recession."

Approximately 2.82 million single-family homes and condominiums were sold in the first 10 months of 2015, according to RealtyTrac's analysis of sales deeds available in the public record. The number of sales was at its highest level in nine years and 6 percent higher than the same period in 2014, when 2.67 million home sales were recorded.

Only 10 of the metro areas included in the report had a year-over-year decrease in median home sales prices, while the remaining 84 saw prices go up. Bridgeport had one of the most significant increases, tying with Cape Coral, Florida, for a year-over-year increase of 15 percent. Other cities with major positive changes to their median home prices included Detroit, Michigan (29 percent), Charleston, South Carolina (17 percent), and Denver, Colorado (17 percent).

RealtyTrac also examined 127 counties with at least 500 sales in October to determine which areas had the largest increases and decreases in home prices. The counties with the four biggest year-over-year price changes were all in California, including Alameda County (up 75 percent), Santa Clara County (up 61 percent), San Mateo County (up 58 percent), and San Bernardino County (up 52 percent). These counties include the metro areas for Riverside, San Francisco, and San Jose.

Homeowners sold their home for less than what they purchased it for in 15 counties. The worst median loss was recorded in Burlington County, New Jersey, a part of the Philadelphia metro area where the median drop in home sales prices was 13 percent. Other areas with major declines in median sales prices were Kane and Cook Counties in the Chicago, Illinois metro area (down 9 percent and 4 percent, respectively), as well as Shelby County, Tennessee and Guilford County, North Carolina (both down 4 percent).

The share of buyers using Federal Housing Administration loans dropped from 16.9 percent in September to 16.1 percent in October. This share was still up from 12.6 percent in October 2014.

Buyers using an FHA loan were most common in Ogden, Utah, where they accounted for 34.2 percent of purchases. Other markets with a large percentage of FHA purchases included Visalia, Calif. (30.9 percent), Salt Lake City, Utah (30.6 percent), Elkhart, Indiana (29.9 percent), Yuma, Arizona (29.9 percent), and Merced, Calif. (29.5 percent).

Cash purchases increased for the third consecutive month, with their share climbing from 28.4 percent in September to 28.9 percent in October. However, they were down from 30.4 percent in October 2014 as well as the record high of 41.1 percent in February 2011.

RealtyTrac looked at 230 metro areas with at least 100 sales and 10 cash purchases, and determined that cash sales were more prevalent than the previous month in 128 markets. Four of the six metro areas with the largest share of cash sales were in Florida, including Homosassa Springs (61.4 percent), Naples (60.1 percent), Miami (53.7 percent), and The Villages (52.2 percent).

Institutional investors, or entities purchasing at least 10 properties in a calendar year, made up 3.6 percent of single-family home and condominium sales in October. This share was the same as the previous month and a decline from 5.5 percent in the previous year.

The market with the highest share of investor purchases was Killeen, Texas, where these purchases accounted for 12.4 percent of all sales. Other markets with a large share of sales to investors included Columbus, Georgia (12.2 percent), Jacksonville, N.C. (11.6 percent), Huntsville, Alabama (10.1 percent), and Memphis, Tenn. (10.1 percent).

"It is interesting to note that the top four markets for institutional investors are all small- to medium-sized markets near military bases," said Blomquist.

REO sales, or those owned by a bank, made up 8.1 percent of single-family home and condominium purchases in October. This share was also unchanged from the previous month but down from 10.6 percent in October 2014.

East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, had the highest share of REO sales at 31.7 percent. It was followed by Bakersfield, Calif. (25.5 percent); California, Maryland (24.5 percent); Tallahassee, Fla. (20.3 percent), and Jacksonville, Fla. (19 percent).

Short sales in October remained unchanged from September, standing at 5.2 percent. They were down slightly from the previous year, when short sales accounted for 5.5 percent of single-family home and condominium sales.

Torrington had the second highest share of short sales among the markets included in RealtyTrac's report, making up 12.6 percent of the community's transactions. Providence, Rhode Island, had the sixth highest share of short sales at 10.2 percent.

Other areas with a large share of short sales included Salisbury, Md. (13.5 percent), Atlantic City, N.J. (12.6 percent), Yuma, Ariz. (11 percent), and Jacksonville, N.C. (10.8 percent).