The Warren Group of Boston reports today that Rhode Island's single-family house sales rose 3.6 percent in July from a year earlier, marking the first increase in 17 months.

The Boston research firm's report follows a separate report by The Rhode Island Association of Realtors that showed single-family house sales in July declined 4.9 percent from July of last year. (The Realtors only report sales through real-estate agents while the data does not include sales by owners, which may account for the discrepancy.)

The Warren Group reported 787 single-family houses were sold in July, up from 760 a year earlier. The increase, the report stated, is in contrast to other New England states, where house sales continue to decline. In Massachusetts and Connecticut, for example, sales of single-family houses have declined for 11 straight months.

In Rhode Island, price cuts helped drive up sales. The median price of a single-family house in July fell 15.4 percent -- to $234,000 -- from a year earlier, marking the steepest decline since The Warren Group began tracking the data in 1989.

larditi@projo.com