The year isn’t over yet, but an annual record for the median price of previously owned homes sold on Oahu is more poised to fall following strong results in September for the local residential real estate market.
The Honolulu Board of Realtors released data today for home sales that closed last month, and prices were up solidly for both single-family houses and condominiums.
Single-family houses sold for a median $675,000 last month, a 6.9 percent rise over $637,000 in the same month last year. Condos sold for a median $348,000, a 8.9 percent gain over $319,500 in the same comparable period.
Last month’s median prices were at their second-highest levels for any month this year, following $677,250 in June for single-family houses and $350,000 in August for condos.
That $350,000 condo figure also is the highest for any month ever. The record median price for any month for single-family houses was $685,000 in June 2007.
"It’s a very good, strong market," said Sherrie Au, who opened a new brokerage firm, RE/MAX Prestige, last month in Hawaii Kai.
Au, who was a sales agent with Prudential Locations, said there are a lot of buyers competing for a relatively low supply of homes on the market despite some increases in inventory in the last few months.
"They’re fighting over properties," she said of buyers. "Inventory is low. It’s still painfully low."
The number of single-family house sales was about flat at 303 last month compared with 304 a year earlier. The number of condo sales surged 20 percent to 421 from 350.
Low inventory, historically low interest rates, rising employment and a growing economy are factors pushing demand and prices higher for Oahu homes.
The market is in the midst of a second consecutive year of rising prices. Last year the median price for all Oahu single-family house sales grew 7.8 percent to $620,000. The condo figure was up 5.8 percent to $317,500.
For the first nine months of this year, the single-family house median sale price is $640,261. That’s up 3 percent from a year ago and is just shy of the record $643,500 set in 2007.
The year-to-date condo median price is $332,000. That’s up 5 percent from $315,000 for the first nine months of last year. The previous full-year record was $325,000, set in 2007.
So unless there are a significant declines during the last three months of this year, existing annual records should fall.
Local economists predicted earlier this year that Oahu’s housing market would flirt with a banner year in 2013, and projected further that single-family house median prices will rise over $800,000 in another two years.
The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization forecast in August that the median single-family house price will rise to $716,600 next year, $805,600 in 2015 and then $872,600 in 2016.
UHERO’s forecast for condo median prices is $356,800 next year, $398,700 in 2015 and $447,500 in 2016.
