O'ahu single-family home prices continued to climb during the first three months of 2006, although at a slower pace than last year, the Honolulu Board of Realtors reported yesterday.

Single-family homes sold for a median price of $625,000 between January and March, up 18 percent from $529,100 in the same quarter a year earlier.

The 18 percent rise was down from 27 percent in the year-over-year comparison for the fourth quarter, and down from 31 percent in the third quarter, when the board began publishing quarterly sales data.

Condominium median prices remained stronger, rising 35 percent to $309,000 in the first quarter over the same quarter a year earlier. That compared with a 36 percent year-over-year gain in the fourth quarter, and 30 percent in the third quarter.

The quarterly comparisons tend to provide a more solid indication of trends in the housing market, and so far bolster economist predictions that home prices this year will rise between 5 percent and 20 percent.

The volume of sales was down 3 percent for single-family homes and down 5 percent for condos during the quarter. That was a smaller decline than the fourth quarter when sales dropped 11 percent for both types of homes but about even with the decline in the third quarter.

Helping push the single-family home median price to a new high in the first quarter were sales in the Diamond Head area, where the median reached $993,000. The next priciest region was the North Shore, where the median was $900,000.

The median is a point where half the sales were for more and half for less.

Other regions such as urban Honolulu, Hawai'i Kai, Kailua and Kane'ohe had single-family home median prices between $690,000 and $850,000. Median prices in Central O'ahu, the 'Ewa Plain, Makakilo, Waipahu and Pearl City were between $515,000 and $590,000. The median for the Leeward Coast was $355,000.

Median prices for condos ranged from $178,000 on the Leeward Coast to $555,000 in Hawai'i Kai.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.