Oahu’s housing market had its fourth consecutive year of record median sale prices in 2016.

In December the median sale price for single-family houses ticked up 4.3 percent to $730,000 from $700,000 in the same month the year before, the Honolulu Board of Realtors reported Friday. For 2016 as a whole, the figures were about the same: a 5 percent rise to a record $735,000.

Condominium sale prices were more subdued in December, with just a 1 percent gain to $390,000 from $386,250 in the same month the year before. For all of 2016, Oahu’s condo median sale price was up 8.3 percent to a new high of $390,000, topping the $360,000 median price of 2015.

Higher prices have put buying out of reach for many households.

“It is still a great seller’s market,” said Bryn Kaufman, principal broker of real estate sales firm OahuRE.com. “Buyers are still having to bid on properties that are priced well, which makes it challenging for many buyers.”

Kaufman also said a tight inventory gives sellers more of an advantage in the face of demand that exceeds supply.

Partly because of the relatively tight supply of homes for sale in combination with rising personal income and job growth, the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization predicts that Oahu home prices will keep going up for at least another three years.

UHERO in September forecast that single-family house median sale prices will rise 6 percent to roughly $785,000 this year, followed by a 4 percent gain to $815,000 in 2018 and then another 1 percent to $820,000 in 2019.

For condos, UHERO projects the median sale price will rise about 7 percent to $415,000 this year, followed by 5.6 percent to almost $440,000 in 2018 and then 3.3 percent to $453,000 in 2019.

One exceptional part of market activity in December was purchase volume. The number of single-family home sales jumped 14.8 percent to 341 from 297 a year earlier while condo sale volume surged 23.8 percent to 525 from 424.

Kalama Kim, president of the board and principal broker at Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, said the strong gains occurred amid relatively flat inventory of homes available for sale.

“December is typically a slower month for home buying, but that wasn’t the case in 2016 and home sales ended the year on a strong note with double-digit increases for both single-family homes and condos,” he said in a statement.

The sale volume in December represented the second highest for any month last year. In 2015 there were seven other months with more sales than there were in December.

Kim also said the number of sales pending at the end of December was up by around 15 percent for condos and 20 percent for single-family houses, which suggests that volume for completed sales in the next few months should remain strong.

For all of last year, sale volume for single-family houses rose 6.5 percent to 3,678 from 3,455 the year before. Last year was only the second consecutive year for higher sales, and the total remains far below the record of 4,702 sales in 2004.

The number of condo sales last year rose 8.4 percent to 5,449 from 5,028 the year before and marked a second straight year with a gain. The record was 7,990 condo sales in 2005.

Kaufman at OahuRE.com said some of the higher volume recently has been driven by buyers wanting to beat rising interest rates.