Worcester joins San Francisco, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City as housing markets with the highest price increases

The Worcester area is quickly becoming an expensive one in which to buy a home, according to online real estate brokerage Redfin.

The website said the median price for a home in the Worcester metro area was $284,600 in September, an increase of 11.1 percent, or more than $31,000, from September 2017.

That increase is fourth-highest in the country, behind only San Francisco, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City out of 171 metro areas tracked by Redfin. 

Along with the price increase in Worcester metro — which the U.S. Census Bureau defines as Worcester County and Windham County, Conn. — came a decrease in sales, as just 919 sales were reported in September, a 2.9-percent decrease from the year prior. In the same vein, Worcester recorded a 9-percent decrease in new listings 

Despite the increase in Worcester-area prices, the median price of homes in all of Redfin’s tracked areas rose just 2.1 percent in September compared to a year ago.

Home prices in the Boston metro area rose 4.1 percent to $467,000, according to Redfin, and prices in Greater Providence rose by 3.8 percent to $269,900. Greater Hartford, Springfield and other New England metro areas weren’t measured. 

Data from other reports shows a lesser increase for Worcester-area prices than Redfin did.

Boston-based real estate data firm The Warren Group reported a Worcester County median price in August for $285,000, just a 1.8-percent increase from August 2017. For the year, prices were up 6.6 percent to $275,000, according to The Warren Group, which has yet to release data for September.