Fewer Oahu homes sold last quarter

The drops ends an 8-year run of quarterly increases

The number of previously owned homes sold on Oahu fell 11.4 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the same period last year, ending more than eight years of quarterly increases.

At the same time, the median price of single-family homes rose 32.2 percent to $620,000 from $469,000.

Harvey Shapiro, research economist at the Honolulu Board of Realtors, said the board is not concerned about the decline in volume because sales previously had risen for 33 straight quarters. The drop in the number of sales does not validate any predictions of bursting bubbles, he said.

"This doesn't speak at all of a bubble," Shapiro said. "The bubble (that) people have been talking about is prices."

The condo market is even stronger, Shapiro said, because as single family-home prices have risen, pricing some buyers out of that market, they have looked toward condo purchases instead.

Sales of condos dropped 10.6 percent to 1,783 in the fourth quarter of last year from 1,994 in the fourth quarter of 2004, but condo prices rose, jumping 36.4 percent.

During the recent quarter, Oahu's Diamond Head area was the costliest for a single-family home, with a median price of $977,000. The highest median price for a condo was in Hawaii Kai, at $521,500.

The least expensive houses and condos were on the Leeward Coast, at $382,100 for a house and $184,000 for a condo.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors data may be viewed on its Web site at www.hicentral.com.