Home resales
up in August,
but prices slip

Condo resales and prices
showed strong gains

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By Tim Ruel
truel@starbulletin.com

Oahu single-family home resales in August jumped 5.6 percent from a year earlier while prices dropped slightly.

Growing sales volume and flat prices have been the trend since late 1994, when the number of homes selling began to rebound, said John Connelly, broker-in-charge of Coldwell Banker's Kahala office and chairman of the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

The total number of sales for homes and condominiums are the largest they've been since 1990, Connelly said.

A total of 341 homes sold last month, up from 323 in August 2000, according to monthly figures released yesterday from the Honolulu Board of Realtors. The median resale price fell to $307,000 from $309,000. Median price means half the homes sold for more while half sold for less.

The board's figures do not include first-time sales of new homes.

Condo resales jumped 19.8 percent to 442 units from 369 units during the same time, while median condo prices rose 7.5 percent to $129,000 from $120,000.

For the year to date, single-family home sales so far total 2,312, up 10.7 percent from 2,088 last year. Condo resales are at 2,911, up 12.9 percent from 2,578. The total combined dollar value of all sales stands at $1.34 billion, up 7.2 percent from $1.25 billion last year.

The 3,500-member Honolulu Board of Realtors tracks Oahu residential transactions recorded in its computerized Multiple Listing Service.