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Isle housing
market surging

Single-family home resales
jumped 27.2% in May while
condo purchases rose 42.3%

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Residential real estate sales on Oahu rose sharply last month while prices remained close to their year-earlier level, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

Resales of previously owned single-family homes totaled 304 in May, a 27.2 percent increase from 239 in May 1999, and condominium resales were stronger at 417 last month, up 42.3 percent over 293 in May 1999.

The median price among single-family homes changing hands last month was $290,000, up 1.8 percent from a year-earlier $285,000, and the condominium median was $120,000, down 2 percent from $122,500 median, the price at which half the units sold for less and half for more.

Peter Freeman, president and chief executive officer of the 3,500-member real estate trade association, said the "incredible" May numbers mean that the volume of resales on this island has exceeded the year-earlier volume for 35 consecutive months. He said the houses and condominium units sold last month added up to $197 million in sales, a 46.1 percent increase from the year-earlier month's total of $135 million.

The growth of buyer demand has left Oahu with the lowest inventory of for-sale homes in 10 years, Freeman added.

The vigorous May activity brought sales of single-family homes for the first five months of this year to a total of 1,280, up 29.8 percent from 986 in the first five months of 1999. Condominium sales totaled 1,559 for the year through May, up 29.1 percent from 1,208 in the 1999 period. The Board of Realtors, which gets its information from its computerized Multiple Listing Service, does not report on sales of new homes.