Oahu’s housing market produced gains in sales volume but not in median prices last month, suggesting that like the economy, residential real estate is bumping along an uneven recovery path.

Sales of previously owned single-family homes rose 11.2 percent to 199 last month from 179 in the same month last year, while condominium sales increased 9.5 percent to 265 from 242.

Brian Benton, immediate past president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, said he was encouraged by the activity.

"Oahu’s real estate market got off to a strong start this year," he said.

However, median prices failed to produce gains, showing that the market is still on somewhat uneasy footing.

The median sale price for single-family homes fell 4.2 percent to $570,000 last month from $595,000 a year earlier. The condo median slipped 2.7 percent to $291,000 from $299,000.

For condos the median price decline was the third dip in four months. For all of last year, the median price was unchanged, which was an improvement from a 6.2 percent drop the year before.

For single-family homes the median price decline also was the third decrease in four months, though for all of 2010 the figure rose 3.1 percent to reverse two years of modest drops.

Kelly Mitchell, an agent with Elite Pacific Properties, said she’s seeing some speculators return to the market as a sign that the bottom is past. "The buyers are out there," she said.

The pace of sales, however, is still bumpy. Single-family homes that sold last month spent an average 38 days on the market before sellers accepted an offer, compared with 43 days a year ago. Condos sold last month, however, spent 49 days on the market on average, up from 36 in the year-earlier period.

Inventory was little changed from year-ago levels. There were 1,391 single-family homes on the market at the end of January, down a bit from 1,442 a year earlier. Condo inventory totaled 1,969 units, up from 1,947 in the same period.