April Housing Sales
May 1st, 2008 by Harvey ShapiroThe statistics for O`ahu home sales were released today by the Honolulu Board of REALTORS®. Basically, there was a continuing decline in resales, but prices have been holding steady.
During April, there were sales of 256 single family homes and 384 condominiums on O`ahu. This compares with 342 and 527 sales, respectively, in April 2007, for decreases of 25.1% and 27.1%. Year-to-date, there have been 929 single family dwelling sales and 1,421 condominiums. Compared to the same time period a year ago, sales have declined by 23.0% and 24.7%, respectively.
Median prices paid for O`ahu properties in April were $639,000 for single family homes and $327,000 for condominiums. Note that these prices have been quite stable, unlike many Mainland markets, particularly in California. The medians for the entire first four months of 2008 are $625,000 and $329,000, almost the same as the same time period in 2007. Price changes differed widely for O`ahu neighborhoods, but rather than repeat them here, be sure to check out the neighborhood charts in tomorrow's Honolulu Advertiser.
Sales speeds, measured from the time of a property listing to an agreement, were faster last month. A median market time was needed of 43 days for single family homes and 33 days for condominiums, both being the fastest this year. Compared to last year in April, single family home sales have sped up two days and condominiums by five days.
For further information about recent activity in your specific neighborhood, check the information available on the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® website and/or contact a REALTOR® in your area.
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:09 am
Harvey,
Loan companies made it easy for "subprime" candidates to get home loans. Given the federal govt and loan companies will tighten their lending practices from hereon to forever, can one expect real-estate prices to have a huge run-up as they did in the past few years?
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:29 am
Thanks for your question, Richard. I believe the answer is YES, given historical facts. This past run-up in prices was fueled by cheap financing costs, but this wasn't the case in earlier periods. The prior boom was the Japanese bubble in 86-90 and this had nothing to do with US mortgage rates.
If history repeats, we have another couple years of softness before something else will cause prices to increase...
May 5th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Retiring boomers, foreign investors, cheap dollar will make Hawaii go BOOM again in a few years. Just take a look at the high end condos built in Waikiki and Kaka'ako in the last 5 years. All nearly sold out, plus Trump is moving in. News reporting in U.S. tends to only focus on the negative, regarding the economy, but don't be fooled, there are millions of people who are quite well off, and many will be looking at Hawaii to retire, or buy 2nd homes.
March 21st, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Nice site! Thanks for the great post