Condo sales up 48%
despite rising prices

Sales of houses also rose
7.2 percent in March over last year

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By Dave Segal
dsegal@starbulletin.com

More Oahu condominiums were sold in March than at any time in the last 13 years.

The 564 condos that changed hands last month increased 47.6 percent from a year earlier and was the highest total since 769 were sold in May 1990. That brought the number of condo resales in the first quarter of 2003 to 1,473, according to Honolulu Board of Realtors' figures released today.

The median sales price in March jumped 23.2 percent to $169,100 from $137,300 in March 2002. It was up 5.5 percent from $167,000 in February 2003.

Resales of single-family home rose 7.2 percent to 327 from 305 a year ago. Their median sales price gained 17.1 percent to $350,000 -- the same as in February -- from $299,000 in March 2002. The total number of single-family homes sold during the first three months of the year was 874.

The increased buying pushed the total dollar volume of sales for single-family homes and condos up 37.7 percent this year to just more than $661 million, compared with just more than $480 million through the first three months of 2002.

Harvey Shapiro, research economist at the Board of Realtors, said it's too early to know how the U.S.-Iraq war will affect sales, but he noted that homes -- especially condos -- were being snapped up at a near-record pace before the conflict began.

"Investors typically buy condos for ... an investment, and we believe that the stock market has been performing so poorly that money may be coming out of the stock mark and going into this type of investment for a safe haven," Shapiro said. "This probably has generated additional sales."

The number of single-family home and condo sales from April 2002 through March 2003 was 9,822, just off the 12-month record of 10,148 achieved from June 1989 to May 1990.

"It's not easy to predict what's going to happen," he said. "I believe it's in the hands of the interest-rate question of when mortgage rates will turn around. We're at historical lows for mortgage rates, and as long as that continues, I believe the housing market will continue to be very healthy."

Shapiro attributed this year's rise in sales to more residential listings being advertised in the market.

In March, there were 588 single-family homes and 798 condos placed in active status, an increase from 464 and 560, respectively, a year earlier. As a result of these new properties, he said Oahu isn't experiencing the inventory squeeze that was evident through the 1990s and into 2002.

Last month, there were 1,301 single-family homes actively being sold compared to a low of 1,162 available last May. For condos, there were 1,695 actively being marketed last month, compared with a trough last July of 1,403.

"The statistics were strong in March, despite the commencement of hostilities with Iraq," said Shapiro. But, he added, purchasers had committed to buy those single-family homes and condos before the war started.