HONOLULU — O‘ahu’s housing market rebounded in April with year-over-year gains after mostly slumps in March.
Sale volume and median prices both rose for single- family houses and condominiums in April compared with the same month in 2023, according to data released Monday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors.
The single-family home market had bigger gains, with a 26 percent jump in sales to 262 in April from 208 a year earlier, and a 10 percent rise in the median sale price to $1,100,000 from $999,995.
For condos the number of sales edged up 2.6 percent to 431 in April from 420 a year earlier while the median price rose 5.6 percent to $528,000 from $500,000.
The gains in April followed mostly year-over-year decreases in March. For sales the declines in March ranged from 2.5 percent for single-family homes to 22.5 percent for condos. Median prices in March were mixed, with a 1.5 percent tick higher for single-family homes and a 6.7 percent drop for condos.
The median price is a point at which half the sales were for more and half were for less.
Fran Gendrano, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors and principal broker at KFG Properties Inc., said in a statement that despite the momentum change, sales remained at softened levels compared with recent years.
The report from the trade association said that based on a 12-month moving average of sales, April’s average trailed the pre-pandemic moving average in 2019 by about 26 percent for single-family homes and 18 percent for condos, and was about 40 percent below the peak moving averages in 2021 and 2022.
High mortgage interest rates, which more than doubled from about 3 percent in early 2022, have been a big drag on sales.
Yet, despite the average 30-year fixed rate rising to 7.2 percent last week from 6.6 percent in January, Gendrano said the positive movement in Oahu’s housing market from March to April is a good sign.
“The month-over-month rise in sales indicates buyers are active in the market despite higher mortgage rates,” she said.
Chad Takesue, chief operating officer for local real estate brokerage firm Locations, said in a Monday company report that O‘ahu’s housing market is “muted but stable.”
Takesue expects steady sales and moderate price increases to continue through summer months that represent the peak home-buying season.
“Pent-up buyer demand is counteracting the dampening effects of higher mortgage rates and economic uncertainty,” he said in the report.
Takesue also said that some softness in the condo market has been due to challenges in the cost and availability of property insurance but that this situation is expected to be temporary because constraints in the affordability and availability of single-family homes will drive activity in the condo market.
Generally, levels of inventory of homes for sale and buyer demand continue to favor sellers.
Inventory of homes for sale at the end of April would be depleted in 2.8 months for single-family homes and 4.2 months for condos if no new inventory were added and demand stayed at the monthly average from the past 12 months, according to the Board of Realtors report.
