Fourteen Honolulu homes purchased for more than $2 million apiece last month helped Hawaii’s main housing market break another record.
The median sale price for Oahu single-family houses rose in September to a new high — $730,000 — according to Honolulu Board of Realtors data released for publication today.
That figure topped the prior record of $719,500 set in November.
Cherie Tsukamoto, principal broker of East Oahu Realty Inc., wasn’t surprised by the new record, because strong demand from buyers is being fueled by low interest rates and relatively low inventory of homes on the market.
“We’re seeing demand for well-priced good properties,” she said.
One waterfront townhouse in Hawaii Kai listed in August for $848,000 received eight offers and sold for $890,000 last month, according to Tsukamoto.
“Amazing,” she said.
With three months left in the year, Oahu’s housing market is in a comfortable position to break the annual median price record for a third consecutive year and continue a moderate pace of price appreciation that followed a few years of modest decreases following the Great Recession, which took hold in 2008.
For the first nine months of this year, the island’s median single-family home sale price was $696,000. That compares with $669,500 for the same period last year and $675,000 for all of 2014. Prior to that the annual record was $650,000 in 2013.
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Jack Legal, Honolulu Board of Realtors president and owner of Legal Realty in Kapolei, suggested that buyers shouldn’t be discouraged by the new median price peak. In a written statement he noted that a considerable number of homes — 38, representing 12 percent of the 329 homes bought last month — sold for under $500,000.
“There are options at all price points in the market — it just takes some looking,” he said in the statement.
The median price is a point at which half the homes sold for a higher price and half for a lower price.
There were 15 homes that sold for under $400,000 in September, including two for under $200,000. At the high end there were 69 homes, or 21 percent of all sales, for more than $1 million, including 14 over $2 million.
September’s median price of $730,000 represented a 7.6 percent increase over the $678,500 median price for the same month last year.
The volume of homes sold was up 3.5 percent to 329 from 318 in the same period. This year through September the number of single-family homes sold is up 4.9 percent to 2,599 from 2,478 in the first nine months of last year.
Oahu’s condominium market produced gains in the median sale price and number of sales but did not approach any records.
Condos sold for a median $366,000 last month, up 5.5 percent from $347,000 a year earlier. The record for any month was $381,500 in January.
For the first nine months of this year, the median condo sale price is up 1.4 percent to $355,000 from $350,000 in the same period last year. If the median condo price at least holds steady for the rest of the year, a new record would be set for a third straight year. Prior annual highs were $350,000 last year and $332,000 the year before.
In September there were 480 condo sales, up 15.7 percent from 415 in the same month last year. This year through September the number of condo sales is up 5.1 percent to 3,792 from 3,609 in the same period last year.