An inventory shortage pushed the median price for a single-family home on Oahu to a new record of $733,500 in January, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

The number of single-family homes sold in January also increased by 10.5 percent, compared to the same month in 2015.

January’s median price for a single-family home topped the previous record of $730,000 set in September. It also reflected an 8.7 percent increase over the median price in January 2015.

Meanwhile, the median price for condominiums in January decreased 1.8 percent to $374,500 compared to the same month in 2015, but that was still above the median price for a condominium in 2015 ($360,000).

The median days on the market for both single-family and condominiums was 20 days, the Honolulu Board of Realtors said in a report due for release today.

“January was an extremely strong month for home resales on Oahu,” said Kalama Kim, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, in a statement. “Both single-family and condominium sales were up by double digits over January 2015, an indication that demand for all forms of housing remains high. The primary drivers of rising housing prices are shortages of inventory and new development.”

“We’re seeing especially heavy activity in single-family homes priced in the $600,000 to $800,000 range, and condominiums in the $200,000 to $400,000 range,” he continued. “More inventory in these ranges is needed to meet demand. The Leeward area, Central Oahu plain, and Pearl City showed big gains in January 2016 and lead the market in home sales.”

Melody Pevateaux, a Realtor with Caldwell Banker, who works with properties primarily on Leeward Oahu, said she had a banner year in 2015, selling about 30 properties for $15 million.

A large portion of those transactions were past clients listing properties because they had generated equity in their homes. Others were buyers willing to pay a higher price just to get their hands on property.

“At this point, for some of the stuff on the Leeward side, it’s cheaper to own a property than it is to rent,” she said.

She attributed the continuously robust market to low interest rates and a lack of inventory.

“I am personally getting multiple offers on every townhome or condo in Ewa and Mililani that I list,” she said, adding that after listing a single-family home in Mililani recently, she received eight offers in two days, all well above the asking price.

“Affordability is just not there,” she added. “Anything that is priced right is generating multiple offers, pushing the price up.”

She added, “There’s nothing available in this neighborhood at all.”

People who need to be closer to town are also willing to pay a higher price because nothing else is available, she said.

Jane Noe, co-founder of Aloha Noe Realty, said traffic has played a role with some of her clients and may be a larger factor in future sales. She said one doctor with a house in Mililani purchased a condo in town to avoid the traffic, but the doctor’s husband still returns to their Mililani home to care for the dog.

“She’s not the only person,” she said. Several of her clients own an apartment in town and go out to another home in Mililani, Ewa or the North Shore just for the weekend, she said.

January’s median sales price for single-family homes was the fifth consecutive month with a median price at or above $700,000. Oahu’s housing market hit a new record in 2015 for annual median prices for single-family homes at $700,000.

The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization forecast in March that Oahu’s median single-family house sale price would top $700,000 in 2015, surpass $770,000 in 2016 and exceed $800,000 in 2017.