Hawaii’s economy is hobbled by high unemployment, business shutdowns and scant tourism, but Oahu’s housing market has set a price record for a second straight month.

Exceptional demand for bigger homes, reduced inventory and near historic low interest rates helped push the median sale price for previously owned single-family homes to $880,000 in September.

The record, reported by the Honolulu Board of Realtors on Tuesday, was 13% above the year-­earlier figure of $777,000 and doused the prior peak of $839,000 from August, which was just $4,000 above a roughly year-old high point of $835,000 from July 2019.

Some local real estate agents have said in recent weeks that extended government emergency orders aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 are causing many people to spend more time living and working at home, prompting a significant number to purchase bigger accommodations.

“Ultimately, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed how buyers think about purchasing a home, causing them to reevaluate their housing goals and priorities,” Tricia Nekota, president of the trade association representing real estate agents, said in a statement.

The report noted that September sales volume for single-family homes containing more than 2,000 square feet of living space surged 38% over the same month last year.

Sales volume surges also occurred for homes at the upper end of the market pricewise — 39% more sales of homes between $700,000 and $1.49 million, and 43% more sales of homes over $1.5 million.

At the lower end, sales volume dropped 36% for homes under $700,000.

Overall, the number of single-family home sales on Oahu rose 13% to 391 last month from 347 a year earlier.

“The spike in demand for single-family homes may correlate to buyers pursuing a different quality of life and a new environment following the sharp shift in people working from home,” Nekota said.

Philip Garboden, a University of Hawaii professor of affordable housing economics, policy and planning, said he suspects that low interest rates are enabling higher-income households to buy bigger and pricier homes while folks in the bottom half of the market have been hardest hit by the recession and aren’t buying as many of the more moderately priced homes.

“A low interest rate doesn’t matter if you don’t have income,” he said. “So they’re mostly holding on, but definitely not looking to buy or move. So smaller, more modest, homes aren’t selling.”

In Oahu’s condominium market, which is also generally more affordable, the number of sales dipped 2% to 456 last month from 466 a year earlier as the median sales price was unchanged at $445,000.

September was the first month this year since April without a major condo sales volume decrease, following coronavirus-related declines that ranged from 17% to 51% from April to August.

For single-family homes, the year-over-year sales volume rise in September was the second straight month with an increase after declines as big as 22% since April.

“The initial effects of the coronavirus pandemic have passed, and market activity has returned to last year’s levels or better — evidence of continued strong demand for housing and lack of supply for sale,” Dan Tabori, president and CEO of brokerage firm Locations, said in a report.

Recent sales volume improvements could be a reflection of pent-up demand from earlier this year, and has occurred despite fewer homes on the market.

There were 939 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of September, down 39% from 1,548 listings a year earlier, the trade association’s report said. Condo inventory was down 6% to 2,282 units from 2,423 units in the same comparable period.

The dramatically lower inventory for single-family homes tends to put upward pressure on median sale prices because buyers are competing for fewer homes.

The Honolulu Board of Realtors report said 163 single-family homes sold last month for more than the asking price, about twice as many as a year earlier.

“Right now, sellers are benefiting from market conditions that include historically low interest rates, a lack of inventory and stiff competition, often causing buyers to bid well over the asking price,” Nekota said.

Locations counted just 590 single-family homes on the market in September, and said this was a 40-year low.

“Record-low single-family home inventory, coupled with near historically low interest rates, pushed median home prices and competition to new highs in September, with four in 10 homes selling for above the asking price,” Tabori said in the company’s report.

For the first nine months of the year, the median sale price for Oahu single-family home sales is up just 3% at $811,000 compared with $785,000 for the same period last year.

The condo median sale price this year through September is up 1% at $430,000 compared with $425,000 a year earlier.