Home sales and prices on Oahu increase

May was a strong start to the busy season for home sales on Oahu.

Homebuyers, according to a report released Tuesday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors, pushed up sales of previously owned single-family homes and condominiums on the island by about 13 percent in May over the same month last year.

Median sale prices rose by more modest single-digit percentages and remained close to, but below, recent highs. Sale volume, by comparison, showed particular strength in the single-family home segment of Hawaii’s largest housing market that had not been seen for years.

There were 362 single- family home sales last month. That was up 13.5 percent from 319 a year earlier and was the most for any month in over three years.

According to data from the trade association, the sale volume last month was the most for single-family homes since August 2013 when there were 366 sales. Still, there were many months with more sales during the prior housing market boom in the mid-2000s that included several months with more than 400 sales.

For condos there were 540 sales in May. That was up 13.2 percent from 477 in the same month last year, and only one other time since the mid-2000s have there been more sales in any month (548 last June).

Sue Ann Lee, president of the local Realtors trade association and a broker with Properties of the Pacific, said in a statement that she expects a continuing high level of sales given that the number of purchases still pending in May — sales that are positioned to close in the next month or two — were 38 percent higher for single-family homes and 25 percent higher for condos compared with a year earlier.

“We anticipate a high number of closed sales in the coming weeks,” she said. “Summer is typically the peak of housing sales, and this year we’re off to a great start.”

The May gains on a percentage-point basis for condos and single-family homes were the highest for any month this year. However, year-to-date sale volume is up just 2.2 percent for single-family homes and 8.2 percent for condos.

As for sale prices, single-family houses sold for a median $745,000 in May. That was up 3.6 percent from $719,000 in the same month last year. For the first five months of this year, the median sale price was up 2.8 percent to $740,000 from $720,000 in the same period last year. For all of last year the median price was a record at $735,000.

The median price is a point at which half the homes sold for a higher price and half for a lower price.

Oahu condos sold for a median $406,500 last month, up 9 percent from $373,000 a year earlier. This year through May the condo median sale price was up 5 percent to $399,000 from $380,000 in the same period last year. The annual record was $390,000 in 2016.

Locations, a major Hawaii residential real estate brokerage firm, said in a Monday report that it expects prices will likely keep rising this year by a single-digit percentage point rate.

The firm said Oahu’s housing market is showing “strong and steady” growth as exhibited by higher prices, increasing sales, low inventory, competition among buyers and properties spending relatively few days on the market before sellers accept offers. Locations also said buyers struggling to make a purchase amid competition could see some relief in the form of more inventory.

In May, 461 new listings of single-family homes were added to the market. Only three times in the last 24 months has the number of new listings been higher. For condos there were 702 new listings last month, and that figure has been higher only twice in the last 24 months.