Tag Archives: Honolulu Star Bulletin

The Hawaii real estate market is extremely hard to predict, with different indicators often pointing towards different potential paths for the future. According to a May 7, 2010 article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin, “Real estate markets are usually defined in terms of whether they are good for buyers or sellers. But what emerged last month on Oahu during the waning days of the federal homebuyers tax credit was more of a transitional market.” The piece by Allison Schaefers continued to state that “Sometimes it was good for buyers, sometimes it was good for sellers and sometimes it was not good at all, according to Oahu’s real estate watchers. ‘It’s a more difficult market to predict,’ said Chason Ishii, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. On the one hand, Oahu residential real estate sales posted a double-digit rise in April, according to results released yesterday by the Honolulu Board of Realtors.”

Oahu homes for sale, which represent the largest component of Hawaii homes for sale, are also showing signs of indecision. According to a May 26, 2010 article from the Honolulu Advertiser, “A federal report suggests that O’ahu home values aren’t as positive as indicated by local sales data, though the market appears to be on a path of improvement. The Federal Housing Finance Agency yesterday reported that O’ahu single-family home values in the first quarter were down 4.5 percent compared with the same quarter last year.” The article by Andrew Gomes went on to say that “The figure compares with a 4.4 percent rise in the median price for O’ahu single-family  homes sold in the first quarter as reported by the Honolulu Board of Realtors. It’s debatable which assessment is more accurate.”

Although the economy overall was recovering in the month of April, the rate of foreclosures in the Hawaii real estate market continued to increase during the same time period. According to a May 13, 2010 article from the Honolulu Advertiser, “Real estate in Hawaii’s foreclosure pipeline hit a high for the year last month, signaling that homeowners continue to struggle with mortgage payments even as the economy and real estate market are showing signs of a slow recovery.”