Home sales Another surge in Oahu real estate sales in December made 2002 a record year, at least for single-family homes sales, and a very strong year for all sales combined, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors.
continue pace
2002 proves to be a record year
as record-low mortgage rates
keep the market demand highBy Russ Lynch and Lyn Danninger
rlynch@starbulletin.com | ldanninger@starbulletin.comLast month, sales of previously owned single-family homes were up 33.5 percent from the previous December and condominium sales were up 46.7 percent year-over-year, the trade association said.
Prices rose in December, showing a 13.5 percent increase in the median for single-family homes over December 2001, to $350,000, and a 23.1 percent rise in the condominium median, to $160,000. The median is the price at which half of the units sell for more and half for less.
"The volume has been going up since the middle of 1997 and the last couple of years, the prices have been going up," said Harvey Shapiro, the organization's research economist.
"The Oahu housing market continues to roar, basically due to the historically low mortgage rates," he said. "We should expect this heightened level of activity to continue until the Federal Reserve decides to raise interest rates."
Jim Wright, president of Century 21 All Islands predicts another banner year in 2003 for residential real estate, although total dollar volume and growth rate may be a little less than last year's.
"If (the market) maintained the way it has in the last year we would soon outpace the consumer's ability to keep up with the market so it would just stop. But I think it will just naturally slow down at some point," Wright said. "You can't set a record every year but you can be running slower and still have a good year."
Wright predicts the Waikiki condominium market, which has been undervalued for a number of years, will be an area to watch.
"It's sub-market for what it should be doing. It's only a matter of time before people start focusing on that market," he said.
New construction is affecting the market for previously owned homes, Wright said. "Builders have recognized the demand and the hunger for new housing so that takes some of the pressure off the resale market," he said.
Researcher Shapiro said more single-family resales took place last year than in any year since the association began collecting data in 1985. Condominium resales were the highest since 1990.
"Combining these two housing categories to obtain total residential sales, we see a 31 percent increase from last year and we achieved the highest number of sales since 1989," Shapiro said.
In the single-family market, the 347 sales reported last month brought the year's total to 3,906, up 14.7 percent from 3,406 in 2001. The increase was even more significant in the condominium market, where 487 sales last month brought the 2002 total to 5,406 units, up 26.9 percent from 4,261 in 2001.
Anne Keamo, chairman of the 4,000-member Realtors association for 2003, said 2002 ended "on a very high note."
He said total resales, of both houses and apartments, added up to more than $2.6 billion last year, up 31.1 percent from just under $2 billion in 2001.
Honolulu Board of Realtors
