2014 Market Update Tracking Hawaii Housing Market
April
April Market Update
As we head into May and the beginning of the summer selling season on Oahu, Median Sales Prices continue to heat up, drawing in more sellers looking to get top dollar on their home or condo.
With 10 consecutive months of price gains, the open house guide increased slightly last month from April 2013 stats. More new listings were entered into MLS during the past month, than a year ago, indicating prospective home sellers are showing more confidence in the market. New single-family listings increase by 1.5%, and new condo listings by 6.8%, compared to a year ago.
Kalama Kim (R), branch manager at the Kapolei office of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, says “I’m extremely bullish of the summer. The Fed has said they will keep mortgage interest rates low, sellers are getting ready to put their properties on the market and buyers have been waiting for months to find something they can buy.”
During the first four months of 2014, 929 single-family homes were sold, as compared to 955 sales in the same 4-month period of 2013 — a decrease this year of 2.7%. Condominium sales volume is also down slightly — from 1,456 during the first four months of 2013 to 1,438 this year.
Some neighborhoods around the island saw an increase in closed sales. In Hawaii Kai, for example, when comparing closed sales data from a year ago, the number of closed sales was up 171%. The Median Sales Price in Hawaii Kai also saw dramatic increases, from $795,000 a year ago to $1,107,000 in March.
Some experts predict the median price of a single-family home will approach $700,000 this year.
April statistics show overall price gains in both the single-family and condo segments of the market — up 3.7% and 6% respectively.
Year-to-date stats are also up — 5.7% to $650,000 for a single-family home, and up 3.8% to $345,000 for a condominium.
According to the Honolulu Board of Realtors’ most recent neighborhood data, the distribution of condo listings favored the higher end of the pricing spectrum — 359 of the 1775 condos for sale on the island are listed for more than $700,000. Single-family homes asking prices were largely weighted between $650,000 and $800,000 — 211 of the 1,170 listings fell into this Median Sales Price category.
Hot Market!
In March 2014, single-family sellers in six of Oahu’s 21 neighborhoods received a median of 100 percent of their asking price or more. The hottest neighborhoods include: Ewa Plain (100%), Hawaii Kai (100%), Kailua-Waimanlo (100.6%), Makiki-Moiliili (110.5%), Mililani (100%), and North Shore (103.3%).
“Offers keep pouring in here on the West side of Oahu,” says Kim. “Just about every property we offer on has multiple offers, which motivates our buyers to be very aggressive with their offer price. Many of our buyers have lost out on properties they have offered on so they become more and more aggressive with their next offer.”
Prices in excess of the asking price often result when more than one set of buyers are interested in a property. Buyers offer more than the asking price in hopes of beating out the competition, as has been the case in a growing number of hot markets around the island.
There were seven such hot condo neighborhoods as well: Hawaii Kai (100.2%), Kailua-Waimanalo (100.7%), Kaneohe (100%), Kapahulu-Diamond Head (109.3%), Makakilo (100%), Makiki-Moiliili (103.8%), and Pearl City-Aiea (100%).
For a closer look at neighborhood-by-neighborhood trends in your area, or to see which neighborhoods on Oahu are hottest, contact a neighborhood specialist at Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties.
