Oahu housing market tempers its momentum

A string of monthly gains for the number of condominiums sold on Oahu came to an end in October, but the decline was a slight one in an otherwise positive market.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors reported Thursday that the number of Oahu condo sales dipped 1.4 percent last month to 419 from 425 a year earlier.

It was the first year-over-year decline for any month in more than a year, and followed double-digit percentage point gains for most of this year, including a 20 percent gain in September. However, the 425 sales in October 2012 represented a spike, so the dip last month did not surprise industry watchers.

The median price for condo sales was unchanged at $325,000.

In the single-family house market, the number of sales edged up 2.8 percent to 290 in October from 282 a year earlier. The median price was up 2.4 percent to $640,000 from $625,000.

John Harris, a broker and owner of RE/MAX Honolulu, welcomed the more moderate movement in the market after several months earlier this year when median prices hit or came near record highs for both condos and single-family houses.

"It’s nice to see some moderate increases," he said.

Job growth and low interest rates are helping fuel buyer demand, while low inventory is helping put pressure on prices as more prospective buyers compete for relatively few properties.

The supply-demand mix helped push median condo prices to three new highs this year — $340,000 in February, $345,500 in July and $350,000 in August.

The single-family house median price hit $677,250 in June, which was 1 percent off the peak for any month set in June 2007 at $685,000.

Some of the moderation in October could be due in part to rebounding inventories of homes on the market.

October was the first month this year where there were more single-family houses on the market than there were in the same month last year. There were 1,170 houses for sale last month, up from 1,066 a year earlier.

For condos, year-over-year inventory moved up in September and October with about 1,650 condos on the market compared with 1,600 in the same months last year.

"We’re slowly adding into inventory," Kevin Miyama, a Prudential Locations agent and president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, said in a statement.

For the first 10 months of this year, the number of single-family houses sold is up 6.4 percent to 2,728 from 2,564 a year earlier. The median price for the same period is up 2.8 percent to $641,000 from $623,250.

In the condo market this year through October, sales are up 14.3 percent to 4,050 from 3,542 a year ago. The median price is up 4.8 percent to $330,000 from $315,000 a year ago.