Oahu home prices edged up in July

Oahu’s housing market posted modest median price gains in July and again fell a little shy of setting any new records.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors reported today that previously owned single-family homes sold for a median $789,500 last month, up 5.3 percent from $750,000 a year earlier.

Condominiums on the island sold for a median $429,500 in July. That was up 1.1 percent from $425,000 in the same month last year.

“The market is experiencing a leveling off after last year’s record prices and paces,” Darryl Macha, president of the trade association representing residential real estate sales agents on Oahu, said in a statement.

For single-family homes, the peak median sale price was last year in June at $795,000. The closest the market has come to that since then was in April at $790,000.

In Oahu’s condo market, median price records were broken three times last year and achieved new peaks twice this year at $430,000 in January and then $435,000 in March.

The pace of sales dipped last month for single-family homes but was modestly higher for condos.

There were 330 single-family homes sold in July, down 1.5 percent from 335 a year earlier. The slight decline made July the third month in a row with fewer sales year-over-year.

In the condo market, the number of sales rose 5.7 percent to 502 last month from 475 a year earlier.

The median price is a point at which half the sales were at a higher price and half at a lower price. Sales reported by the association reflect transactions completed in July, which typically reflect sales contracts signed one to three months earlier.