If buyers are waiting for Honolulu home prices to drop significantly, they might have already missed their moment, according to data released today by Clear Capital, a Truckee, Calif.-based home-valuation provider.

Clear Capital pegged Honolulu as the second-best-performing metro of the nation's largest 100 for home values in February as compared to January. The city was the 14th best on a rolling quarter basis, which measures the most recent four months against the previous three months.

The increase in Honolulu home values, up 2 percent in February from January, was second only to Houston. Similarly, Clear Capital reported that Honolulu's home values rose 1.8 percent on a rolling quarter basis.

“;Honolulu did see the magnitude of a run-up in price without seeing an equally damaging downturn and now has been seeing sustained growth over the last three to four quarters,”; said Alex Villacorta, Clear Capital senior statistician. “;If buyers are waiting for prices to drop more, it seems that time has passed—all things being equal. The time to buy is now, when prices still are at 2005 levels.”;

The latest data also brought good news for homeowners who bought before 2005 and after last winter's bottom, Villacorta said.

“;They probably aren't underwater,”; he said, adding that Honolulu has fared better than most other metros throughout the housing crisis.

Honolulu home prices rose 130 percent and more than doubled from the last housing boom's start in 2002 to around mid-2006; however, Villacorta said property values declined only 17 percent from peak to trough compared with the average 30 percent declines experienced by the rest of the nation.

“;Honolulu is one of the best markets that we've seen out there,”; he said, adding that it's been very stable over the last year and a half.

Honolulu's ebbs and flows have been “;very modest,”; Villacorta said.