Sales and prices for previously owned homes on Oahu were soft in October, contributing to what has been a jittery year for a market that some economists believe is on a bumpy road to recovery next year.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors released sales statistics Tuesday showing sales and median prices decreased last month for single-family homes and increased ever-so-slightly for condominiums.

Single-family home sales fell 9 percent to 223 in October from 245 in the same month last year. The median price declined 2.3 percent to $579,000 from $592,500 in the same comparable period.

October marked the sixth consecutive month in which the median price declined compared with the same month last year. For the first 10 months of this year, the median price has been up in only one month, April.

The year-to-date median price is down 4.4 percent to $570,000 from $596,500 in the same period last year.

Single-family home sale volume this year through October has been higher in four months, flat in one month and lower in five months. Year-to-date volume is down 2.7 percent at 2,429 sales compared with 2,497 sales in the same period last year.

In Oahu’s condo market the number of sales eked out a 0.6 percent gain represented by two more sales last month over a year earlier. There were 321 sales in October compared with 319 a year ago.

The median condo sale price was up 1.7 percent, or $5,000, to $305,000 last month from $300,000 a year earlier.

The slight gain in the condo median price reversed three consecutive months of declines. Year-to-date, the condo median price is down 0.7 percent at $302,790 from $305,000 for the same period last year.

The gain in condo sale volume for October was the third consecutive month for higher sales that followed five months of year-over-year declines. Year-to-date, condo sales are up 1.5 percent to 3,356 units from 3,308 units in the same period a year ago.

Joyce Nakamura, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, said a more-or-less steady pace of sales and no excess inventory are helping keep residential real estate activity relatively balanced. "October’s numbers reflect a movement toward stability in the market," she said in a statement.

Local economist Paul Brewbaker of TZ Economics holds the view that a general sideways movement in prices might persist for a few years until more robust economic growth takes hold.

The University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization released a report last week predicting that the median sale price for single-family homes and condos on Oahu will slip this year and be near flat next year before making moderate increases in 2013.

UHERO projects the median single-family home sale price will be down 3.9 percent this year and then post a 1.5 percent gain next year before an 8.5 percent rise in 2013.

The condo median price is projected to decline 1.6 percent this year, then remain unchanged next year before rising 3.5 percent in 2013, UHERO’s report said.