For the first time since 2010, both monthly sales volume and median prices for all types of previously owned Oahu housing dipped in January. Although the slip in the median single-family house price was slight — 0.6 percent, to $767,500 from $772,000 in the same month last year — it counters years of continual modest rises.

On the supply side, the for-sale inventory added to the market spiked with 519 single-family homes on the heels of an expected seasonal decline in December. Does any of this signal real-estate significance? Not yet. Observers say at least a few more months of data are needed to discern whether the latest figures mark a trend or anomaly.