Oahu home sales,
prices up in March

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Sales of previously owned homes and condominiums on Oahu picked up substantially in March -- sounding a positive note in the din of local layoff and bankruptcy news.

Last month, a total of 204 single-family homes changed hands, compared with 135 in March 1997, a 51.1 percent increase, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

Condominium resales, meanwhile, rose 38.4 percent to 202 last month, up from 146 in March 1997.

Prices of single-family homes were up too, with a median resale price of $312,500, up 2.5 percent from the March 1997 median of $305,000.

Condominium prices were lower, however. Last month's condominium median price -- the point at which half the properties sold for more and half for less -- was $140,500, a 6.3 percent decline from $150,000 in the previous March.

"The sales statistics this month were spectacular," said Linda Marn, chairwoman of the 4,000-member real estate trade association.

March was the ninth consecutive month in which single-family home sales were higher compared with a year earlier.

Demand is up and there are fewer homes for sale, which should stabilize prices, Marn said.

"The number of residential properties available for sale has been declining significantly," she said.

Marn added that there are 9.1 percent fewer houses and 11.5 percent fewer condominium units listed for sale currently compared with this time last year.

Marn said that after a period in which low demand forced prices lower, the price increase in single-family homes last month may show prices and demand are approaching, or have reached, a balance.

The association said that the volume of home resales is back up to where it was in mid-1995.

The Board of Realtors gathers its information from listings and transactions reported through its computerized Multiple Listing Service. It lists only existing homes and does not report on sales of new homes.