BANGOR (AP) – Soaring home prices may be an old story in Portland or Boston, but only now are people in inland areas like Bangor starting to detect a similar trend.

Residential real estate prices in the Bangor area have held to a steady course for years, climbing only slowly even amid the housing boom in York and Cumberland counties.

But bankers and real estate agents say the market began to shift gears two or three years ago, and people are beginning to take notice.

A Glenburn home that sold for $165,000 three years ago was recently resold, with no major improvements, for $288,000, said Barbara True, an agent for Dawson-Bradford Co. in Bangor.

True tells of another young couple who found their perfect house. Wanting to make sure they got it, they offered $11,000 more than the asking price, only to have someone else get it.

The median home price in Maine increased 15 percent between the first quarter of 2004 and the first three months of 2005 to $187,500, according to the Maine Real Estate Information System. In Penobscot County, the median price increased 20 percent, from $112,500 to $135,000.

Other healthy increases were recorded in Washington County (25.5 percent), Piscataquis County (28 percent), Knox County (19.5 percent) and Hancock County (54.8 percent).

The data indicate that the entire state is not sharing in the bounty. Prices actually declined in Aroostook County and appear to have stabilized, at least temporarily, in Waldo, Lincoln and Oxford counties.

“Sellers with shorefront property can name their price, within reason,” said James Paulas, an agent in Blue Hill.

Raw house lots – those with no improvements – containing up to 2 acres and located away from the salt water, are selling for $35,000 to $50,000, he said.

Greater Bangor is seeing a larger share of pricey homes. For example, one-quarter of all homes in Hampden sold during 2004 and the first three months of 2005 fetched more than $250,000; in Hermon, one-quarter of the total sold for more than $229,500.

Demand for homes has been high. Almost 25 percent of the homes in Greater Bangor sell within 14 days, according to the Maine Real Estate Information System. One-third sell within three weeks, and only about one home in 20 takes more than six months to sell.

David Giroux of Pro Realty in Bangor says several factors have fueled the rapid increase in prices.

Historically low interest rates remain in place, he said, and baby boomers have reached peak earning years and are looking to move up to nicer homes or to condos.

“We can’t keep condos on the market,” Giroux said. “The more mature population wants to be free of maintenance.”

The price spike has been building for two or three years, said Lynne Spooner, senior vice president for retail banking at Merrill Merchants bank. She notes that new custom-built homes are averaging in the high $200,000 to low $300,000 range.

“In the past, the Bangor area never had these spikes,” Spooner said, “but we never saw a crash either.”

Does she expect a crash?

While there are no guarantees, most financial specialists, including Spooner, don’t expect to see any great increase in mortgage rates anytime soon.