AUGUSTA – Real estate sales increased during the past year in Maine, and median home prices went up even more sharply, according to the Maine Real Estate Information System.

The Maine Association of Realtors’ multiple listing service also said Tuesday that 1,209 homes were sold in the state in October, a 5 percent increase over the same month last year.

Median sales prices for those homes rose by 12.5 percent to $144,000, the Realtors said. The median price is the price at which half the homes sold for more and half sold for less.

Sales were even hotter nationally, with October’s sales figure 9.5 percent higher than the October 2001 figure. Over the same span, prices nationally jumped by 9.8 percent to $159,600.

The National Association of Realtors called that the highest price gain since July 1987.

Regionally, sales in the Northeast rose 4.6 percent and the median sales price jumped 14 percent to $165,000.

The number of single-family homes sold in Maine increased in all but four counties. Sales dropped by 13.3 percent from 83 homes in 2001 to 72 in 2002 in Androscoggin; 1.4 percent from 292 homes to 288 in Cumberland; 10.2 percent from 127 to 114 in Penobscot; and 5 percent from 40 to 38 in Waldo.

During the same period, the median sales price dropped in only two counties – Knox and Waldo. The price dropped 12.8 percent from $172,000 to $150,000 in Knox and just under 1 percent from $106,000 to $105,000 in Waldo.

The largest percentage increases in median sales prices were in Franklin, which jumped 31.4 percent from $78,000 to $102,500, and Piscataquis, which rose 30.3 percent from $54,500 to $71,000.

The highest median price for homes in 2002 was $207,250 in Cumberland County; the lowest was $47,000 in Washington County.