‘The Trend Is Down’ On Oahu
The Star Bulletin has an update on Hawaii. “Even Oahu’s heavy rain couldn’t dampen the island’s residential real estate market, although it’s anyone’s guess why March sales volume rose from the previous year. The March rise in sales volume wasn’t great enough to offset the losses in January and February. ‘I would really think that it was just a blip, because the trend is down and we have passed the peak of sales,’ said Harvey Shapiro, Honolulu Board of Realtors research economist. ‘A rest is clearly in order.’”
“The momentum of last spring has long gone and some homeowners have found it more difficult to sell their properties at a premium, (broker) William Chee said. ‘The very high appreciation rates that we once enjoyed have certainly slowed down and we’ve seen the number of transactions drop,’ he said.”
“Despite signs of softening during the past six months, prices stayed constant in March, causing real estate professionals to disavow any talk of an impending bubble. ‘This market doesn’t really favor one side or another, it’s normalizing,’ Chee said. ‘It will still be good for the people who are ready to sell, but it won’t be as wild and crazy.’”
“As a result of softening in the market, which began back in October 2005, buyers can more easily find inventory that suits them and negotiate a better deal than they could in the frenetic market of two and three years ago, said (broker) John Riggins. ‘There are a lot more properties on the market and there is a lot more price adjustment going on,’ Riggins said. ‘Sellers aren’t pricing property 25 percent higher than the last sale anymore, those days are gone.”
“Sellers who want to fetch top dollar for their properties or move them quickly in this market must now clean, repair and stage their homes, Riggins said. ‘It’s going to take more to sell properties,’ Riggins said.”
The Bulletin has a system of revolving links, so this article will be moved eventually and replaced with another.
mort apps up ? running from arms to fixed ?
Second homes accounted for 39.9% of 2005 home sales: NAR
WOW! Last year they said 25%! Now its 40%.
Here is the story
______________________________________
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Sales of second homes increased by 16% in 2005 to a record 39.9% of all U.S. existing home sales, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. Sales of vacation homes rose 16.9% to a record 1.02 million, while sales of homes owned for investment purposes increased by 15.7% to a record 2.32 million, the real estate industry group said. The median price of a vacation home was $204,100, up 7.4%. The median price for an investment property cost $183,500, up 24%
Amazing figures.
Four of every 10 homes sold are not a primary residence. This certainly supports the idea that houses are now assets (and not just a place to live, necessarily) and that much of the economy lately has been about selling properties to one another.
I notice that “investment” homes were more than double the “vacation” homes number for 2005 (2.32 mmm to 1.02 mm).
Whether or not their owners realize it today, a lot of those “investment” homes are going back on the market in the coming months and years.
“… and that much of the **economic growth lately appears to have** been about selling properties to one another.”
40% of existing home sales were second homes … That should eliminate the much-touted stickiness of real estate prices, especially in desireable areas where people would actually maintain vacation or investment property.
“Despite signs of softening during the past six months, prices stayed constant in March, causing real estate professionals to disavow any talk of an impending bubble.”
GIVE IT ANOTHER 6 months in Paradise… they’ll change their tune.
Like I’ve said it in other posts- these types of quotes can be found all across America in ANYTOWN, U.S.A. Hawaii is apparently no different.
some OT but fun to read. Link:www.nydailynews.com/front/story/406092p-343821c.html
“Joint casino fizzles, but Clooney, Pitt not at odds”
“But, a source tells TMZ, “Pitt left Clooney at the altar on the Vegas deal.” According to other reports, the “Troy” star has twice visited Berlin to talk with architects there about a futuristic $60 million resort in Palm Springs, and was finalizing details last weekend.
“Clooney wants to run an old-school, black-tie formal resort in Las Vegas that harks back to the Sinatra era, but Brad’s more about being hip and Hollywood-oriented,” a source told TMZ. “Industry types in Vegas always smirked at Clooney’s plans, but Pitt’s plan to tap into the young market makes more sense to them.”……Yesterday, Clooney acknowledged that the project was in trouble, but planned to make the best of it.
OT…but is never been a better time to start a new morgage company.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/abox/article_1087023.php
From the article:
Yet Trump, always master of spin, dropped enough hints in other interviews, and on the mortgage company’s Web site, to guess at his assumptions:
People will pay up for a smooth sail through mortgage application hell.
And they’ll brag about the brand name tied to the loan.
…This guy is unbelievable to think that he can start a new mortgage company in today’s yield climate and charge borrowers a premium. Unless Trump mortgage is going to service the paper, bragging rights will be gone a couple of days after close when they sell the note.
Donald Trump cannot be that stupid. He’s got to be capitalizing on the fact that the he can walk form this (something he is good at) with a boat load of money after the collapse?
OT but Mass. passed legislation yesterday for health care insurance. This was from 4/3 :”Today, April 3, the Senate President and House Speaker announced far reaching health care reforms that promise coverage to hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents. Their determined and skilled leadership and the hard work of health access advocates and stakeholders have shaped these reforms.”…they talked about fines for those who could afford it but didn’t get it…this should have an effect on the housing market…those that want the state to pay for a free ride will move into the state while those who can afford it will move out of the state….I guess all that extra property will be turned into affordable housing.
What ever happened to ‘Trump bottled water’? Sounds like this one will go down the drain too…..but Trump can always play off other peoples money because of his name ….
When realtors say “normalizing”, if they mean flat or falling prices, skyrocketing inventory, and slowing demand, than I guess things are normalizing.
In fact, since this bubble is so big, the market could go down for years, and they could still say it’s normalizing. In other words, we have a looonnngggg way to fall before things will be normal again!
So, normalizing=falling
BubbleTrack.blogspot.com
just a note about Hawaii real estate…
My parents (retirees) have been visiting the same condo complex in Kauai for the past 10 years…my dad always thought of buying but could never pull the trigger, especially as prices spiraled in the past few years. He told me yesterday that as long as he’s been visiting there, he’s never seen more than five units for sale at one time (there are 60 units total). When he was there six weeks ago there were two for sale, but as of yesterday he says there are now nine!
I knew it was a bad sign for the Oahu market when I heard that one of my wife’s cousins had bought a condo there