The average price also rose to $388,453 in October after a 12-month low of $363,078 in September, according to a report released yesterday by Ricky Cassiday for Hawaii HomeLoans.

Two new condominium projects in Waikiki and Hawai'i Kai accounted for 109 of the 277 October sales, and helped push total volume 26 percent ahead of the 220 sales in October 2002.

The pace was higher despite inventory that has been whittled down from 1,159 homes in January to 698 homes by the end of October. The October level was the lowest of the year.

In October 2002, the inventory of new homes for sale was nearly double at 1,368, according to the report.

Cassiday said even with new projects being added to the market, new-home inventory continues to fall because the supply of existing homes for resale is not satisfying buyer demand, leading more home seekers to purchase new single-family homes and condos.

"(The) resale market is extremely tight, with very few listings available to prospective buyers," he said.

According to Honolulu Board of Realtors data, there were 969 single-family homes on the market for resale at the end of October, the second lowest level since January 1990, and 1,566 existing condos available.

Cassiday projected the top-selling new condo projects will sell out by the end of the year, though more condo construction projects are in the pipeline that should prevent the new-home inventory from plunging.

One of the two top-selling condos in October was The Windsor, a former 600-room hotel at 343 Hobron Lane in Waikiki converted by Oaktree Capital Management to 181 condo units. The project accounted for 55 sales in October.

The Colony, a 240-unit four-story condo complex being built in Hawai'i Kai by Stanford Carr, accounted for 54 sales.

Among projects with sales in the pipeline are Ko'olani, a luxury high-rise being built by Crescent Heights in Kaka'ako, and a more affordable 251-unit tower downtown called 215 N. King St., for which developer Downtown Affordables LLC started taking reservations last month. A third project, the 706-unit twin-tower Moana Pacific in Kaka'ako by KC Rainbow Development hopes to begin presales in January.

Cassiday said coming projects should help to keep inventory stable into next year.

The October sales tally was for purchase contracts signed during the month. Sales contracts typically take a few months to close. The number of new-home sales closed in October was 228, up 63 percent from 140 in October 2002.

Total revenue from new-home sales contracts signed in the first 10 months of the year was $1.05 billion, compared with $646 million for the same period last year. Revenue from completed sales from January to October totaled $716 million, compared with $400 million in the year-ago period.