"Real Estate News for Oahu" with May Statistics

Published June 2006 

Hawaii – Oahu – Real Estate Update
Oahu Median sales price for a single family home that closed in May 2006 was $668,300.  Compare to April’s $615K, March’s $650K. One year ago the median was $610K.  An economist we talked to recently said the median will go up for a while, even though the market is flattening and even dropping in the upper price ranges, due to rising prices in the lower end to come up to the median. In Kailua for example, prices dropped 6.5% first quarter of 2006 to first quarter 2005. So, homes priced in the lower half of the market may still be rising while the upper market is coming down.

The # of sales of homes in May was 374.  Compare to April’s 332 and March’s 392.  One year ago that number was 366, which was a low month last year.

Condos sold in May had a median price of $306,000 compared to April’s $296,400 and March’s $312K. One year ago the median was $265K.

There were 605 condos closed in May compared to 584 in April and March’s 696. Nowhere near the high of 831 last August.  Number of condo sales a year ago – 692 in May 2005.

Oahu Total Inventory - In May on Oahu 688 newly listed homes were added to the inventory, compared to 590 last month and 632 in March. Condos new on market were 987 compared to 850 condos added last month and 1006 in March. Total inventory is at 1722 homes. The last 4 months we reached peak in inventory and it continues to grow. The previous highest number I have a record for is 1613 in May 2001.   Condos were at 2413. In December we started peaking in condos going back to before 2001 as well. NOTE: Those figures compares with last year this same month of 854 homes and 935 condos on the market, or way more than DOUBLE last year’s inventory. Can you say supply and demand? Our supply is getting really high.

Months of Remaining Inventory – Median is 5.2 months of remaining inventory in homes and 4/1 months in condos compared to last year same month of 2.0 in homes and 1.2 in condos.

Oahu’s Days on Market (DOM) - May houses came in at 52 DOM, compared to 42 and 44 last 2 months and 38 for condos compared to 32 and 30 last 2 months. A year ago it was 17 for houses and only 15 for condos… very close to the all time low. Anything was selling and selling FAST. Big change.

If you would like to see what’s sold or listed anywhere please email us at: UpdateMe@stott.com

Real Estate and other NEWS
Hawaii’s largest residential hurricane insurance company has decided to not sell any more policies for many older homes in Hawaii. Zephyr Insurance, Inc. which insures about 70,000 homes now, has new guidelines that prohibit new policies to be written for: Single-wall construction homes, homes built before 1981 (unless retrofitted with hurricane clips to meet code in 1993-1994 building code), all homes in flood zones (that do not have proof of flood insurance), and homes within 2500 feet from the ocean. This should not affect existing policies but could cause problems with purchases of homes that need insurance to close or get a mortgage. State Farm has said they can write polices and do not use Zephyr, however, one State Farm office told me yesterday that they cannot write ANY new policies until approx. Aug/Sept due to the number of policies maximum they can write in a given period of time… so it sounds like they are overrun right now too. A new company, Dongbu Insurance Company, is the third largest property and casualty insurer in South Korea and they are accepted by at least one major lender in Hawaii that I know of. According to that lender “They have an A.M. Best Rating of A-(Excellent) and they are licensed to do business in the State of Hawaii.  They offer fire, hurricane, and personal property insurance coverage.  Their policies are issued through Atlas Insurance Agency, Business Insurance Services, and Pyramid Insurance Centre.” I have not heard of any closings delayed due to this change thus far. You may want to check the State of Hawaii, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs website which provides consumer information on homeowner insurance (http://www.hawaii.gov/dcca/areas/ins/consumer).

Today on Kailua Beach a large (about 9’) Hammerhead Shark beached itself. Mike Stott happened to be in the area and I have photos if you’d like them!  Email me at Donna@stott.com and ask for the Shark pictures…

Mahalo for reading our Newsletter!
If you know someone else that should be getting this, let me know!
If you want to be removed,  just hit reply and tell me… I won’t send it if you don’t want it!
And… don’t forget!!  We know great agents EVERYWHERE! Contact us for a referral!
Feel free to forward this to others. Mahalo!

Donna Stott, R, CRS, e-Pro      The Stott Team
Team Coordinator                   254-1515 locally
DonnaStott@stott.com            Toll Free: 1-800-922-6811
http://www.stott.com