Isle home
prices’ drop
bucks U.S. trend

The third-quarter median of
$296,500 is down 5.9 percent

From staff and wire reports

Honolulu's home prices, still the second highest among U.S. metropolitan areas, had one of the biggest drops in the nation during the third quarter, a survey released today showed.

The median sales price for existing homes in Honolulu in the July-September quarter was $296,500, down 5.9 percent from the same period last year, according to the National Association of Realtors' quarterly report. San Francisco, with its median sales price up 13.6 percent to $330,700, remained the priciest market in the country.

Honolulu's market bucked a national trend of rising prices, the group said.

Only seven cities of the 132 area surveyed saw lower prices during the third quarter and only one area had a larger percentage price drop than Honolulu. That was Greenville, S.C., off 6.5 percent to $108,700.

Nationally, prices of existing homes rose faster than inflation in many areas, with the strongest increases showing up along the West Coast and in some Southern cities, the trade group reported.

The national median resale price -- meaning half sold for more and half for less -- was $132,700 during the July-September quarter, up 4.9 percent from the median during the same quarter of 1997. The increase matched the 4.9 percent increase in personal incomes over the same period, but was more than double the inflation rate in consumer prices of around 2 percent.

By region, the Midwest and West had the largest increases, 7.2 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively. The Northeast lagged, with a 2.1 percent rise. In the South, the median advanced 5.1 percent. Thirteen of 132 metro areas reported median price increases greater than 10 percent.

The lowest median resale price was $69,700 recorded in Waterloo, Iowa.