Oahu’s housing market made a huge recovery in December with a sales spike that followed several months of hefty declines earlier last year after coronavirus impacts began in March.

The surge last month was so big for single-family homes — a 36% jump to 420 sales last month from 309 a year earlier — that it erased a year-over-year sales decline over the first 11 months of 2020.

There also was a 20% jump in condominium sales to 514 in December from 428 in the same month the year before, though this segment of the market had fallen more heavily earlier in the year and was still down for all of 2020.

Median sale prices were modestly higher in December, as they had been for most of last year.

Single-family homes sold for $870,000 last month, up 6% from $820,000 a year earlier. Condos sold for a median $455,000 last month, up 7% from $425,500 a year earlier.

The sale and price data was released Wednesday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors in a year-end report that noted December is typically part of a seasonal market lull.

Jill Ward, an agent with Century 21 Island Homes, said many buyers had been reconsidering where they wanted to live last year amid impacts from the pandemic that included more people having to work from home and some leaving mainland cities with rampant COVID-19 transmissions.

“I think people were end-of-year reflecting,” she said.

Ward also noted that record-low interest rates helped motivate buyers, and that a relatively low supply of homes on the market boosted competition and prices for homes that in some cases resulted in 20 to 30 offers on a single property.

Shannon Heaven, Honolulu Board of Realtors president, said in the association’s report that another factor driving sales last month appeared to be cautious optimism around more reopening of Hawaii’s economy.

“Oahu’s real estate market remained an economic driver amid a challenging year,” Heaven said in the report.

Jason Lazzerini, president and CEO of brokerage firm Locations, said in a company report that recent market conditions were “extremely competitive” and that 46% of single-family homes and 23% of condos sold above list prices in December.

“Our homes took on a new importance in 2020,” he said in the report. “With more people working from home this year, buyers reassessed their housing needs — with many opting for larger homes with more yard space outside of the urban core.”

Sales in December represent purchase agreements typically signed one to three months prior, and the median price is a point at which half the sales were for more and half were for less.

For all of last year, the number of single-family home sales edged up 2% to 3,838 from 3,750 the year before.

The number of condo sales in 2020 fell 13% to 4,706 from 5,408 the year before.

Median prices for all of 2020 compared with the year before rose 5% for single-family homes to $830,000 from $789,000 and rose 2% for condos to $435,000 from $425,000.

Local economist Paul Brewbaker said recently that the condo market has been lagging behind single-family housing in part because more condos tend to be real estate investments and have been hurt by government limitations on the ability of owners to collect rent from tenants or use units for vacation rentals during the pandemic.

“The Oahu condo saga will continue for some time,” he said.

Brewbaker added that a 4% to 5% annual median price gain for Oahu homes has been common for much of the last decade, and that this nominal gain ends up being about 2% after accounting for inflation.

HOME SALES

The number of homes sold in December with the median price and percentage change from the same month last year.

HOMES

SALES MEDIAN PRICE

December 2020 420 $870,000

December 2019 309 $820,000

Change 35.9% 6.1%

CONDOS

SALES MEDIAN PRICE

December 2020 514 $455,000

December 2019 428 $425,500

Change 20.1% 6.9%

Source: Honolulu Board of Realtors