Real estate prices continue to climb, Oahu board reports

October marked the fifth consecutive month in which median home prices topped $740,000, according to data released Sunday by the Hono­lulu Board of Realtors.

Compared with year-ago data, October’s median sale price of $742,000 represented a rise of 3.1 percent, and the 335 homes sales made for a 7 percent jump.

Condo prices also climbed 7 percent in the same period with an October median sale price of $396,000. But condo sales sank 5.7 percent to 428 condos sold.

Kalama Kim, Board of Realtors president, said demand for single-family homes remained robust despite heading into a traditionally slower time for sales.

“This could be an indication that buyers are trying to find a home to purchase before mortgage interest rates rise,” he said in a statement.

In addition, the report said new condo listings climbed 16 percent in October over year-ago data, reaching 588.

Kim said that while condo sales were less vigorous than home sales, the 7 percent spike in the median price indicated a high demand for the units.

“We are encouraged that there was a sharp rise in new condo listings in October, as more inventory is still needed to satisfy the demand for housing,” Kim said.

An online report by local real estate firm Locations said competition for home sales was fiercest in the Ewa/Kapolei region, followed by the area from Aiea to Mililani. About 34 percent of homes in those areas sold for more than the listed price.

Buyers were looking to Ewa, Kapolei and Mililani for homes because of steep prices in town and East Oahu, the report said.

Meanwhile the Honolulu Board of Realtors report said 99 percent of condo and home sellers received their original list price and that most of the homes sold — 63 out of 335 — went for a price between $600,000 to $700,000. Two were sold for below $200,000, and 10 were sold for more than $2 million.

Based on the rate of sales and inventory, the board said inventory would be exhausted in four months if no more houses or condos were listed for sale.

The Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii said in a September report that the median price for a single-family home on Oahu will top $800,000 in 2018 but that appreciation will taper off at the end of the decade. The report said the surge in high-rise construction in Kakaako will shift westward to single-family home development at Hoopili and Koa Ridge.

Last quarter, Honolulu had the third-highest median sale price for single-family homes out of more than 150 metropolitan areas in the country, according to the National Association of Realtors. San Diego topped the list with a median sale price of $1 million. San Francisco was second with a median price of $835,000.