Continuing an upward tick in high-end real estate sales on the Vineyard this year, a single-family home at Crackatuxet Cove in Edgartown sold last week for $21 million.

Jill Shaw Ruddock bought the home at 34 Crackatuxet Road from David and Michele Hedley. The 4.5-acre property includes a 7,800-square-foot house situated on a secluded cove in the Edgartown Great Pond.

The sale marks the third transaction north of $20 million in the past 10 months, all in Edgartown. Last January a home on the Edgartown harbor sold for $22 million, while in July of this year a home in Oyster Watcha changed hands for $$24.75 million, nearly a record for a single residential sale.

Home sale marks third transaction north of $20 million in the past 10 months, all in Edgartown.

Mark Lovewell

Home sale marks third transaction north of $20 million in the past 10 months, all in Edgartown.

Mark Lovewell

“The top of the market has really blossomed,” said Tom LeClair, who co-owns Landvest in Edgartown with his partner Gerret Conover Jr. and handled the Hedley sale as well as the other two Edgartown sales. “Property values have reached historical highs going back to 2006, 2007,” he said.

Debra Blair, owner of LINK, the multiple listing service for the Vineyard, said three transactions more than $20 million in a single year marks a new record for the Vineyard.

Reached at her office in Boston this week, Mrs. Blair said the trend in very high-end sales is new for the Vineyard but not necessarily the region. “Nantucket has had a good number of $20 million-plus sales, butthis is definitely a new trend for the Vineyard,” she said. “Normally we would have a $20 million sale once in five to 10 years — you could count them on one hand. Now the new norm is $20 million and up for high-end luxury compounds on the water.”

Eleanor Wilson, client services specialist for LINK on the Vineyard, noted that the Hedley sale was not listed in LINK, another trend for properties at the upper end of the market. Brokers who cater to that segment of the market tend to “have people in the wings who are always looking for something to, quote, come along,” she said.

The Hedley sale last week sent $440,000 alone to the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank. The past two weeks have seen brisk activity in general, with $57.5 million worth of real estate changing hands on the Island. Edgartown has seen the largest volume by far, with $35.6 million in sales from Sept. 21 to Oct. 4. Real estate transactions are reported weekly in the Gazette.

Statistics from LINK confirm the upward trend in general. “We just finished our third quarter stats; what’s interesting is that the numbers certainly are up from a year ago,” Ms. Wilson said. “What I’m hearing from the brokers is that it was a very strong summer market.”

Ms. Wilson said the total number of individual transactions year to date is 404, compared with 354 the previous year. The median sale price is $612,000, compared with $525,000 a year ago. In September alone there were 70 sales, compared with 58 the year before; June, July and August saw a similar story with numbers uniformly up over last year. “Very strong summer market — and that’s not traditionally the strongest market on the Vineyard,” Ms. Wilson said. “To see the numbers climbing that much in the summer indicates people are still willing to pay fairly high prices for second homes. The Vineyard has been steadily climbing. Why? I have no idea.”

Jill Shaw Ruddock, the buyer of the Hedley property, is a longtime seasonal resident, London-based author and former investment banker. She and her husband, Sir Paul Ruddock, are noted art philanthropists.

Mr. LeClair declined to specifically name the buyer, although her name appears in public real estate records.

But describing upper end buyers in general, he said “It’s a combination of new buyers to the Island and families that have been here quite a number of years.” He said one significant difference is that the high-end properties selling today are turn-key. “Ten to 15 years ago all our high-end transactions were older generation properties that had to be redone,” he said. “Now we are seeing turn-key properties. This could widen the pool of buyers coming to the Island, because a lot of buyers today just aren’t interest in doing a big project.” He concluded:

“I really feel it’s a trend unless something crazy macro happens . . . the Island is in great shape, and for all the reasons families are attracted to the Island — all those reasons are getting better.”