Homes for sale moving quicker

Prices for home and condo sales in March gained momentum

There are signs that Honolulu's real estate market is starting to come out of its slowdown, despite a slight year-over-year decline in March.

Prices for both home and condominium resales gained momentum from February to March, inventory dropped and properties sold at a faster clip, according to data released yesterday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

"The short-term forecast for the residential housing market looks quite good, based on the number of properties that went into escrow this month," said Harvey Shapiro, research economist for the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

In March, Honolulu's single family-home sales experienced a 15.8 percent year-over-year drop to 330 transactions, while condominium sales fell by 22.3 percent to 541 condominiums.

The median price paid in March for a single-family home, $643,500, also was a 1.0 percent year-over-year drop -- but a 4.7 percent gain over the prior month.

The median condominium price in March rose 0.3 percent year-over-year to $321,000.

On a month-to-month basis, the median price for a condominium rose 1.9 percent.

While the total sales volume lags last year by 11.4 percent, Honolulu's real estate market should experience a greater volume of closed sales with higher prices in both property categories in April, Shapiro said.

The average number of days that it took to sell a property declined for the first time last month since Honolulu's real estate run-up began, said Berton Hamamoto, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

The number of days on the market for condominiums fell 32 percent to 40.

Likewise, the number of days on the market for single-family homes fell 7 percent to 65.

Inventory for both single-family homes and condominiums, which had been on a 19-month rise, also dropped for the fourth straight month, Shapiro said.

Inventory of single-family homes and condominiums has dropped 16.5 percent from November to March, he said.