Weakness persisted in Oahu’s housing market last month, with fewer sales and lower prices, including a six-year low for the median condominium price.

The decline in the number of homes sold further solidifies a roughly five-month trend of softer demand.

Sales of previously owned single-family homes declined 7 percent to 251 in July from 270 in the same month last year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors. The median price slid 2 percent to $591,000 from $604,500 in the same period.

Single-family home sales have been flat or falling since March, putting the market on course for a full-year decrease. The real estate industry was hoping this year would build on a 13 percent gain in sales last year, which reversed a five-year slide.

The single-family home median price has been down in six of the first seven months of this year. That follows a 3 percent gain last year that halted two years of declines and was regarded by some to have been the start of a market rebound.

Now that rebound is being questioned by some observers, especially since a University of Hawaii economic forecast projected that Oahu home prices would rise this year.

However, local economist Paul Brewbaker of TZ Economics holds the view that recent home price activity is part of a normal Hawaii market recovery cycle that historically has included years where home prices move more or less sideways.

"Home prices on Oahu currently represent an interesting case of oscillatory convergence, which continues to play out," he said, referring to wobbling prices as opposed to a smooth recovery.

Bill Chee, chief executive officer of local real estate brokerage firm Prudential Locations, also characterizes the market as being in a stabilizing phase that could last a few years. "The vacillation is relatively small," he said. "The market is not moving much."

Though the market’s broad movement this year has generally been down, sale volume and median prices vary by region. For instance, on the Ewa Plain, in Oahu’s biggest submarket for single-family homes, sales were down 16 percent to 43 homes, and the median price was down 3 percent to $415,000. But in the next most active region, Kailua-Waimanalo, sales were unchanged at 26 homes, and the median price was up 8 percent to $905,000.

Median prices were actually higher in 11 regions and lower in eight, while two regions didn’t have sales to compare.

In Oahu’s condominium market, median prices were down in 14 regions and up in four, while three regions didn’t have sales to compare.

Overall, Oahu’s median condo sale price was down 8 percent to $277,000 in July from $300,000 a year earlier.

The median price for condos has been fluttering this year — falling in four months and rising in three. But the July decline was the biggest this year and sank the median price to its lowest level since July 2005 when condos sold for a median $270,000.

The number of condo sales fell 8 percent in July to 300 from 327 a year earlier. Condo sales have been down for five consecutive months this year, and year-to-date are down 3 percent. Last year, condo sales rose 10 percent to end a four-year decline.