The Kaneohe neighborhood is home to a large military community and houses many military families. For research purposes, this neighborhood is geographically defined by the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® as Tax Map Key , Zone 4, Sections 5 and 6, as well as parts of Sections 4 and 7.

Sales were off in 2007 from year earlier levels but the percentage comparison showed less of a decease than for overall O`ahu. In 2007, there were sales of 227 condominiums in Kaneohe, a 12.4% decline from the 259 units sold in 2006. Last month, in January, 11 sales took place, a drop from the 15 dwellings that were sold at the same time in the prior year.

Prices for Kaneohe condominiums actually advanced in the last year. The median price paid in 2007 was $400,000, a 5.3% rise above the $380,000 price paid during 2006. The highest price paid for a condo in the past calendar year was $1,850,000.

Market times were little changed in the last year. The median time a property was available before a sale occurred was 35 days in 2007, a single day faster than in 2006.

For further information about recent activity in your specific neighborhood, check out the information available on the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® website www.HiCentral.com or contact a REALTOR® in your area.

The Honolulu neighborhood is one of the oldest residential areas on O’ahu. For research purposes, this neighborhood is defined by the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® as Tax Map Key , Zone 1, Sections 8 and 9, and all of Zone 2.

Activity in Honolulu during 2007 almost matched that of 2006. There were a total of 237 single family homes sold last year which compares to the year earlier of 240, just 3 sales more. In January of this year, there were 11 properties changing hands.

Median prices in this area have been pretty solid. For 2007, the median price paid for a dwelling in the Honolulu neighborhood was $805,000, a decline of 2.4% from 2006 when the price was $825,000. The highest price paid for a home in 2007 was $2,600,000. Last month, the median price was over $1 million, at $1,100,000, and the highest price was $2,000,000.

The inventory of available homes in this area increased 12.4% in the past year, quite a bit more than the overall O’ahu increase of 7.4%. And, asking prices have decreased, going from $1,095,000 last year, to the current $975,000. The inventory count for Janaury was 109 homes.

Sales speed actually improved in 2007. Last year, single family homes sold with a median market time of 39 days, a week faster than in 2006, and substantially faster than the overall island statistic for 2007 of 47 days.

For further information about recent activity in your specific neighborhood, check out the information available on the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® website www.HiCentral.com or contact a REALTOR® in your area.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Honolulu was announced today and, as expected, it was quite a bit higher. Overall, the CPI grew by 4.8% and the housing component rose by 7.2%, which was a higher growth rate than we’ve seen in a number of years.

But take this information with a grain of salt . Sure our costs are higher, but this index measures costs for a basket of goods which most consumers probably didn’t buy. Buying patterns are region-specific and the CPI doesn’t take into account Hawai`i’s penchant for Spam, as an example. There is also a substantial time lag in the data.

More to the point, the housing component measures the inflation in housing costs, but this assumes that everyone buys (actually rents) a new house each year and the overwhelming percentage of residents did not. A typical Honolulu consumer has non-variable costs associated with housing that don’t vary from year-to-year. Fixed-rate mortgage payments are a good example of a cost that doesn’t change.

Not to say that following the CPI isn’t valuable, but I don’t believe that it is a particularly good measure of your financial health.

Any thoughts on the CPI?

Hawai`i Kai is the southeastern-most neighborhood on O’ahu and includes a significant mixture of townhouses within the condominium category. And, this is the most expensive condominium area of the island. For research purposes, this neighborhood is defined by the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® as Tax Map Key , Zone 3, Section 9.

Sales in this bedroom community were off somewhat last year, but they were less than the islandwide decline. In 2007, sales of 245 condominium units were reported while in 2006 there were 258 sales, a single-digit drop of 5.0%, and compares to the overall O’ahu condo decrease of 13.8%. Last month, however, there was an astounding 110% increase in sales from a year ago, 10 units to 21, compared to a 22.5% drop for the island as a whole.

Prices have declined from 2006 levels, but not by a large amount. The median sales price was $545,000 last year, a decrease of 4.0% from the price in 2006. January’s median price was $540,000, an increase of 1.2% from the same time period in 2007. Last year, the highest sales price paid for a condo in Hawai`i Kai was $1,400,000.

The Days on Market indicator showed properties changing hands with a median market time of 50 days last year, a three-day speed increase from 2006.

For further information about how your specific neighborhood performed, check out the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® website www.HiCentral.com or contact a REALTOR® in your area.

My blog today reviews single family home sales in the western-most neighborhood of O’ahu, Makaha-Nanakuli , which is the most affordable of any area on the island. For research purposes, this neighborhood is defined by the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® as Tax Map Key , Zone 8, in its entirety.

This area experienced a significant decrease in single family home sales during 2007, but had one of the highest appreciation rates on the island. Sales were off 20.8%, decreasing to 213 residences in 2007. This January, however, there was a substantial bump, from 17 sales last year, to 22, a 29.4% increase, when overall single family dwelling sales on O`ahu slipped by 13.3%.

The median sales price for the Makaha-Nanakuli neighborhood’s single family homes was $380,000 in 2007, a 6.5% advance compared against the 2006 median price of $356,700. This price accelerated to $428,000 in January, a 29.7% increase from the same time a year earlier, in a period when the median price for the entire island was unchanged. The highest price paid for a single family home property in this area during 2007 was $1,500,000.

Sales speeds, measured by the Days on Market indicator, showed a slowdown last year, rising to 57 days from the 48 days required to sell a property in 2006.

For further information about how your specific neighborhood fared, check out the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® website www.HiCentral.com or contact any REALTOR® in your area.