Strong demand by buyers bidding above asking price helped push up the median resale price of single-family homes on Oahu to $872,500 in November, the second highest ever.
That price tag was nearly a 10% jump over the $794,750 notched in November 2019, according to sales data released Sunday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors.
The record high of $880,000 was recorded in September.
Most current sales are at the high end of the market. Eighty percent of last month's sales involving houses priced at $700,000 or more. And twice as many single-family homes sold above the original asking price as did a year ago in November.
Tricia Nekota, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, described the trend as a "seemingly new normal of buyers entering bids tens of thousands of dollars over asking price."
"We are experiencing a fast-paced market with properties flying off the market in a mere matter of days, especially single-family homes and townhouses, " Nekota said.
"Despite limited inventory, the high demand for housing is keeping Oahu's real estate market strong and steady throughout the public health crisis, " she added.
The housing market has also been fueled in part by low interest rates on mortgages.
The number of single-family homes sold on Oahu in November rose to 338, up 5.6% from 320 houses that changed hands in the same month last year. The median time between listing and sale of those properties was just 10 days.
Sales jumped 40% in Diamond Head and 60% in Kailua in November, compared with November 2019. Overbidding was most prevalent in the Ewa Plain, Kailua and Kaneohe areas, and among houses priced from $700,000 to just under $1 million.
The condominium market was relatively quiet by comparison last month. The median resale price of condos edged up to $420,000, an increase of 1.2% compared with November 2019, when the figure was $415,000. Fewer condominiums changed hands. Total resales of condos declined by 6% to 407 last month from 434 the previous November.
Year-to-date, single-family home sales are near the level recorded at this time last year, despite the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has battered the local economy. The number of condo sales, however, remains down by nearly 16% year-to-date.
The median price means half of the homes were sold above that mark and half below.
Average sales prices are considered a less meaningful measure because they can be easily swayed by a flurry of sales at the high or low end of the market.
The average price of a single-family home on Oahu last month was $1.08 million.
