Oahu home prices
slip 16%

Sales were down slightly
in February compared with the
year-ago month

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Resales of single-family homes on Oahu last month were down slightly compared with a year earlier but the median sales price took a 16.4 percent plunge.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors this morning said 115 single-family homes were sold last month, compared with 116 February 1997, while the median price fell to $270,000 from $323,000.

However, the board said the trend for the next couple of months, at least, looks positive.

Condominium sales boomed, meanwhile.

A total of 150 condominium units changed hands last month, up 40.2 percent from 107 in February 1997.

The median price among condominiums was down 1.6 percent at $157,500 from the $160,000 February 1997 median, the price at which half sold for more and half for less.

"Single-family home resale counts in the first two months of the year reflect the seasonal slowdown we've come to expect for contracts written in December," said Linda M. Marn, board chairwoman of the 4,000-member trade association.

"Comparing the first two months, we're still more than 33 percent ahead of the same period last year," she said.

January and February together saw 300 Oahu single-family homes change hands, up 33.3 percent from from 225 in the year-earlier period. Condominium sales in the latest two months totaled 327, up 21.6 percent from 269 in the first two months of 1997.

Condominium sales in the Ala Moana-Kakaako area were particularly strong, Marn said, doubling in the first two months compared with the 1997 period and with a median price of $221,000, up more than 20 percent.

The board, which does not report on sales of new homes, calculates resales of existing properties from transactions recorded in its computerized Multiple Listing Service.