September home sales in the greater Portland, Ore., area rose 10.2% from a year earlier, with 2,296 new and resale homes recorded in the five-county region that encompasses Portland and surrounding communities, DataQuick said Tuesday. The study looks at home sales in the five-county Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton metro area. From August to September, sales slipped 9.7%, which is typical when transferring from the summer to autumn selling season, DataQuick said. The median price in the area was unchanged from August, but fell 6.1% from a year earlier, with the median selling price hitting $220,000 in September. That median price is 23.9% below the area’s peak level of $289,000 in October 2007. The region’s 10.2% surge in September home sales still pales in comparison to the 27.7% sales increase experienced in August and the 25.1% jump recorded in July. Those summer increases were the first sign of positive sales growth after 12 consecutive months of annual home sales declines. In September, distressed property sales accounted for 31% of the Portland area’s resale market. Foreclosure resales represented 17.2% of September sales, while short sales accounted for 13.9% of the resale market in September. Write to Kerri Panchuk.