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Home sales flat Oahu home resales were flat last month compared to March 2001, but prices rose.
on Oahu but
prices rise
A real estate expert says
Windward and East Oahu
are "very strong"By Russ Lynch
rlynch@starbulletin.com
Statistics from the Honolulu Board of Realtors showed a total of 305 single-family homes changed hands last month, the same number as in March 2001, but the median price was $299,000, 6.8 percent higher than the $280,000 median a year earlier. The median is the price midway between the highest and the lowest.
In the previously owned condominium market, 382 units changed owners last month, down 0.8 percent from 385 in March 2001, but prices rose. The median price among resold condominiums was $137,300 in March, up 6.4 percent from $129,000 in the previous March.
Real estate researcher Michael Sklarz said the market is strong but it is still a mixed picture, with parts of the island doing better than others.
"Windward and East Oahu are very strong," he said, but the middle of the island and West Oahu are seeing "very low prices."
"I guess it's only a matter of time" until those areas pick up also, said Sklarz, vice president of real estate market research and data for Fidelity National Information Solutions.
New houses are being sold at low and attractive prices in the western and central areas but "even existing houses are at depressed prices" in those areas, he said. "We expect them to go up," because the inventory of properties for sale is not high, he said.
Looking at old markets like Kailua, where prices are higher, Sklarz noted that there is no new development in those areas and all the sales are existing homes, well established in their neighborhoods.
Peter Freeman, president and chief executive officer of the 3,500-member Realtors association, said March was a good month that left the first quarter of this year showing total home resales worth $480.6 million, up 10.8 percent from $433.7 million at the end of March last year.
"The strong March sales continue to reflect the favorable mortgage rates that are available," Freeman said. "Additionally, economic stability and the continued prospects of growth are motivating both buyers and sellers."
