A February slip now looks more like a blip for home prices on Oahu, after March sales pushed up prices to levels that have been higher only once before.

Median prices of homes sold last month reached $700,000 for single-family houses and $380,000 for condominiums.

Those figures were the second highest for any month in history, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, which released the data for publication Tuesday.

The March gains followed declines in February that some industry leaders said suggested was a hiccup in a general three-year trend of moderately rising prices.

Jack Legal, the trade association’s president and owner of Legal Realty in Kapolei, said in a statement that competition among buyers for relatively limited inventory of homes is fueling the trend.

"Simply put, demand continues to outpace supply,"he said.

March’s $700,000 median single-family house sale price was 6.5 percent higher than the median of $657,000 in the same month last year. The record for any month was $719,500 in November.

For condos, last month’s $380,000 median was up

8.6 percent from $350,000 a year earlier. The record was $381,500 in January.

In February, year-over-year declines emerged that were surprising to some observers but not uncommon in past years with generally rising prices. For single-family houses the median price slipped 4.6 percent to $648,000 from $679,000, while the condo median dropped 9.3 percent to $326,000 from $359,450.

Given the sales prices in March, that view appears backed up.

This year through February, the single-family house median price is up 3.2 percent to $676,000 while the condo median is up 5.4 percent to $363,750.

Economists at the University of Hawaii said in a report released two weeks ago that a slowdown in new home construction on Oahu last year put upward pressure on home prices that could ease if more homes get built this year.

The report from the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization called home prices to date "mild considering the low volume of homes on the market."UHERO also dialed back its previous projections of more robust home price growth.

UHERO’s March report projects that Oahu’s median single-family house sale price will rise 5 percent to about $710,000 this year, which is down from its prior projection made in October, which envisioned a 10.6 percent gain to $758,500.

In the new report, UHEROprojects increases of 8.8 percent in 2016 to $772,200 and 5.8 percent in 2017 to $816,800.

For condos, UHEROexpects the median price to rise 4.2 percent this year to $365,000. That compares with the earlier projection of an 11.1 percent increase to $398,900.

In the next two years, UHERO expects the median condo price to rise 8.1 percent to $394,700 and then 8.4 percent to $428,000.

UHEROsaid relatively low mortgage interest rates should continue to fuel demand from homebuyers, though higher prices will reduce affordability and constrain purchases.

Last month the number of sales was almost flat for single-family houses at 244 from 246 the year before. Through March, sales are down 4 percent at 655 from 682 the year before.

Condo sales last month were up 4 percent to 403 from 387 a year earlier. Through March, condo sales are down 1 percent to 979 from 993.