The sales figures were largely driven by Centex Homes, the developer of luxury homes around the golf links at the Ko Olina resort on O'ahu's western shore.

Centex signed contracts for 47 single-family homes for $1.1 million each on average, and another 102 townhomes for an average of $585,516 each. The 149 sales at Ko Olina Kai Golf Estates and Villas by Centex represented just over half of all sales for the month.

Sylvia and Carlo Foz, 18-year Hawai'i residents who work for a mortgage firm, bought one of the Ko Olina Kai single-family homes under construction, their third move-up purchase that started with a home in California's Bay Area, then Makakilo and most recently Ko Olina.

"We always wanted to live on a golf course," Sylvia Foz said, adding that she also likes the security, lagoons and serenity of living at Ko Olina.

"When this came up, we jumped at it," she said. "Unfortunately, you don't have a model to look at, but from what we could see, they are going to be very nice."

Roughly half of Ko Olina Kai buyers are local people seeking a primary residence, according to Centex, while the other half are second-home purchasers mostly from the Mainland.

Cassiday said out-of-state second-home buyers and investors have been very active in the market. He said these buyers are acquiring not just resort property, but high-end homes in residential communities like Hawai'i Kai's Peninsula project where more than 30 percent of buyers are nonresidents.

"A lot of people across the United States who travel have begun to look at buying a second home," Cassiday said.

After Ko Olina Kai townhomes, the highest-selling multi-family projects on O'ahu last month were the Moana Pacific high-rise on Kapi'olani Boulevard with 20 sales and the Ko'olani high-rise, nearby on Waimanu Street with 15 sales.

For single-family home sales, the busiest projects after Ko Olina Kai were Castle & Cooke's American Classics in Mililani with 15 sales, and two 'Ewa projects by Gentry Homes, Woodbridge with 12 sales and Prescott with 10 sales.

The September sales put available new-home inventory at 464 units, a level that has been gradually reduced since April when developer Downtown Affordables LLC brought its 251-unit downtown high-rise called 215 N. King St. to market and boosted availability to 878 units.

September sales data represent signed purchase contracts, which won't become completed sales until construction of units is completed and homes are delivered to customers.

For example, Ko Olina Kai broke ground in February and isn't expected to begin delivering homes until the first quarter of next year. High-rise unit sales can take up to two years to close.

The number of sales completed last month was 155, down 36 percent from 243 in the same month last year.

Cassiday uses an average price to measure new home sales while the Honolulu Board of Realtors uses a median price to report sales of previously owned homes.

The median is the midpoint where half the sales are for more and half for less.

The median selling price for previously owned homes on O'ahu was $475,000 in September, down from a record $481,800 reached in June, according to a Realtors report released this month.