Home, condo sales and prices rise again on O'ahu

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Sales and prices of previously-owned homes on O'ahu continued their climb last month, with condominium prices nearing their 1990 peak.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors yesterday reported that there were 685 condo resales, up 24.1 percent from 552 in April 2003, and 361 single-family home resales, up 12.8 percent from 320 a year ago.

The median price for condos — which means half sold for more and half for less — was $205,000. That was up $40,000 from April 2003, and $15,000 up from last month, representing the highest month-to-month rise in more than three years. In the single-family market, the median price was $435,000, down $4,000 from March but still up from the $362,500 median in April 2003.

Nathan Miller, a nurse anesthetist, was one of the buyers confronted with higher prices last month. He said he found depressing options that included a $425,000 single-family home teardown in Kane'ohe.

"I looked at 14 or 15 places and was really disappointed for what the prices were and what you were getting," he said.

Miller, who said he decided to buy because of low interest rates and to stop paying rent, found a three-bedroom, two-bath condo in Kane'ohe, and became a first-time home owner — but only with some fortuitousness.

"I was real lucky," he said, explaining that another buyer's purchase of the same condo fell through. "I got lucky and fell into this."

Condo prices made such a rapid ascent between March and April in part because of falling supply and increased demand after single-family home prices made more dramatic increases earlier this year, said Mary Begier, Honolulu Board of Realtors president.

Condo prices had been relatively stable, moving up $25,000 over the last 12 months before the April increase. At $205,000, the April median was still shy of the $230,000 record reached in May and June of 1990.

The median single-family home price cracked the previous expansion cycle peak in August last year. Before that, the peak for single-family homes was $392,000 set in August 1990.

For the first four months of this year, the total dollar volume of single-family home and condo sales was $1.28 billion, compared with $908 million during the same year-ago period.

The April sales are for completed transactions, which generally reflect sales contracts signed two to four months earlier.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.