Oahu home prices got a jump on the new year, as the median sale price in January for previously owned single-family homes reached its highest level in 16 months.

A report released Tuesday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors said homes sold last month for a median $618,900. That was 8.6 percent higher than the comparable figure of $570,000 in the same month last year and the highest level since $620,000 in September 2010.

Last month’s gain was the biggest since the median price surged 15.2 percent in August 2010, and represented a third consecutive month of year-over-year gains coming off a 3 percent decline for all of 2011.

Real estate brokers generally regarded the move as an indicator of positive momentum.

"January’s numbers are extremely encouraging and it’s great to be able to start off the new year with positive signs of market recovery," Joe Paikai, president of the trade association and broker-in-charge at Valcore Realty Group, said in a statement.

Local economists, however, have said that consumers should expect more or less flat prices in the market this year as Hawaii’s economy continues to work its way through a slow and uneven recovery.

Interestingly, the last outsize increase in Oahu’s single-family home price in August 2010 led many observers to conclude that the market had rebounded from two years of modest declines. For all of 2010 the median price eked out a 3 percent gain but failed to continue the momentum last year.

One indicator that the market remains somewhat unsteady is the pace of sales. The number of single-family home sales last month decreased 12.1 percent to 175 from 199 a year earlier.

The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization forecast in November that Oahu’s median single-family home price this year will inch up 1.5 percent.

In Oahu’s condominium market, UHERO forecasts no change in the median price.

Last month’s condo median price rose 4.8 percent to $305,000 from $291,000 a year earlier. The gain followed 5 percent declines in November and December that contributed to a 1.6 percent decrease for all of last year.

The volume of condo sales edged up 1.9 percent to 270 last month from 265 a year earlier.

Source: Honolulu Board of Realtors / Star-Advertiser