The median price of a single-family home rose to $360,000 in May, up 24.4 percent from $289,000 a year ago, according to a survey released today by the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

In all, 367 single-family homes sold in May, up 34.9 percent from 272 sold during the same month a year ago. Meanwhile, 468 condominiums were sold last month, up 17 percent from 400 a year ago.

"The climate for housing sales continues to be fueled by historically low mortgage rates and, for the first time in many years, the expectation of property appreciation," said Guy Tamashiro, chairman of the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

"While this could just be a short-term phenomenon, there were noticeably more single-family home sales in higher price ranges recorded in May," Tamashiro said.

The median price for a condominium also rose in May to $145,000, up 8.2 percent from $134,000 a year ago.

Tamashiro said sales of homes in the $500,000 to $700,000 price range accounted for 14.7 percent of all sales in May, up from between 8 percent and 10 percent over the past three months. And for the first time since the board has been keeping records, the number of homes that sold in the $700,000 to $1 million range exceeded 20 with 25 sales during the month.

"It's been extremely stressful," said Kelly Allen, a Realtor associate with Manoa Realty. "There's extreme demand and a lack of inventory. Homes are selling as soon as they come on the market."

The average time on the market for single-family homes fell to 32 days, down about 20 percent from a year ago. Condos are spending about 39 days on market, largely unchanged from a year ago.

Real estate agents are not the only ones being stressed by the market, the agents say. Buyers are frustrated by the lack of inventory and the higher prices.

"Right now I am working with three clients who are frustrated already," said Zenaida Lopez, a Realtor with West Oahu Realty.

Lopez said her clients have offered as much as $20,000 above the asking price and were still outbid for the property.

For the year to date, there have been 1,493 single-family home resales, up 14.1 percent from the same period last year. Condominium resales so far this year were 1,970, up 14.8 percent from the same point a year ago.

Higher sales volume and rising median prices have pushed total dollar sales volume for the year through May to $927.8 million, up 20.4 percent from $770.8 million during the same period last year.

Ricky Cassiday, real estate market consultant for Prudential Locations, said the sales numbers show that people have confidence in the their job security despite what happened after Sept. 11.

"If you get more price increases like this, it will choke off the number of sales. But when you have sales increasing and prices going up, that is just a good economy," Cassiday said.