RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Homes in the Peninsula at Hawaii Kai are pictured here. The median sales price of an Oahu single-family home hit a record $410,000 last month, beating the previous high of $400,000 set in January.
Record month, again
Oahu home prices kept rising in
February, reaching new heights amid
declining inventory for buyers
Oahu home resale prices set another record in February, reaching a single-family median of $410,000, but even as inventory shrinks and prices push higher, real estate agents continue to say potential buyers are not yet priced out of the market.
"Even with the limited availability of prices, the ability to purchase these properties by families with moderate incomes is very good," said Mary Begier, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors.
The board released the February sales figures yesterday. The price of a single-family home was 17.1 percent above the same period in 2003 and surpassed the previous high of $400,000 set in January.
The 293 single-family homes sold last month reflected an increase in volume of 8.9 percent from February 2003.
Sales activity in condominiums was similarly strong in February with 499 sales, a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year. Likewise, condominium sales prices continued their upward trend with a median of $188,000 reached for the month, a 12.6 percent rise from February 2003.
Meteoric rise
Realtors say favorable interest rates continue to fuel sales. The total dollar volume in sales in the first two months of this year was $575 million, compared to $406 million in the same period last year, a 41.6 percent jump.Local mortgage rates recently ranged from 4.725 percent to 5.375 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan.
But with declining inventory, it's clear that home prices are out of reach for a growing segment of the market, said Leeward Oahu agent John Riggins, of John Riggins Real Estate.
"We are seeing the affordability gap widen. I think the victims are mostly lower income folks," he said.
Affordable?
Riggins noted that more investors have been entering the Oahu market lately. He has also been showing more and more tenant-occupied properties, the sale of which would help shrink the pool of available rentals.The cement workers strike will also likely have an impact on the market if it continues for much longer, Riggins said.
"If more people are unsure of when a new home will be completed, they'll start to look at the resale market," he said.
It's hard to pick any one area on Oahu where potential bargains may still be found, Riggins said.
"Even the Waianae coast is hotter than a firecracker," he said.
But, he notes, affordability is always relative to where you live.
"I think our values, when compared to the Neighbor Islands, are way undervalued, so I think you could say Honolulu is still technically undervalued when we compare to other islands."
Still, with a median sales price of $400,000, monthly payments can be steep, even with low interest rates.
