With relatively few Island homes and condos on the market or sold each month, and along with the huge variation of the types and prices of homes, identifying a reliable trend for Island real estate is always iffy. Just one very large sale or a cluster of lower priced condos on the market can skew the numbers significantly.

Last month, October, is a good example. The number of condos — both offered for sale or sold — have fallen, affecting both inventory and final prices.

Just five condos were newly listed for sale last month on Mercer Island — bringing the total to 16. The 23 remaining units added to the Island inventory in October were single family homes. In all, the number of residential homes and condos were down to 94 total, down from 108 a year ago.

Thirty five single family homes sales were finalized last month up from just 10 in October 2011. Yet, the October median price for single family homes that sold was $866,000 down from $1.1 million last year.

The median sale price for all homes and condos that closed during the month was $821,000, up from $550,000 for the 14 units that sold during October a year ago.

The number of homes and condos whose sales were pending was up one-third from 28 just a year ago.

Homes presently on the market include nine homes offered between $5 million and $8 million.

The least expensive single family homes on the market include five homes priced at $500,000 or less.