COLDWELL BANKER PACIFIC PROPERTIES
More home buyers made the shift in November away from single-family homes to condominums and multifamily units, such as the Windsor, above, which was the best-selling project for the month.
Oahu new-home
sales slowVolume rose 21.9% in November,
but holiday distractions resulted
in the fewest purchases of 2003
November was the slowest sales month on Oahu last year despite an increase in new-home sales as prospective home buyers began shifting their focus to the holiday season. The number of new homes sold rose 21.9 percent to 189 from 155 a year ago.
The number of contracts closed in November also increased, rising 23 units to 194 sales from 141 in the comparable period a year earlier.
Despite the increase in both sales contracts opened and sales closings, prices slipped 0.9 percent in November as more buyers began moving from traditional single-family homes to multifamily homes and condominium units. The average list price for a home in November was $375,937 from $379,386 a year ago.
The shift was clearly illustrated by the properties that buyers selected. The four best-selling projects were multifamily, led by Waikiki's Windsor condominium, which had 50 sales.
Despite the release of the Windsor and other recent new high-rise projects such as A&B Properties' Lanikea in Waikiki, inventory continued to shrink. In the new-homes market, there were very few available listings, said real estate analyst Ricky Cassiday.
Other big sellers in the multifamily-condominium market were the I'ii Vista at Mililani with 23 sales and Haseko's townhomes at Ocean Pointe with 23 sales. The fourth biggest seller with 16 sales, The Coconut Plantation in Ko Olina, shows that demand from offshore buyers for resort property still continues.
The largest single-family home seller was Castle & Cooke's Renaissance at Waikele with 16 sales.
Gentry Homes Vice President Rick Hobson said his company, which has five communities in Ewa, sold everything it had in 2003 despite increasing initial projections. The company recently released its Prescott II single-family home project. Prices for those homes, which range up to about 1,800 square feet in size, started in the mid-$300,000s, Hobson said.
"We closed every available finished home we possibly could in 2003," he said. "We started out with 350 units. That was our beginning-of-the-year projection. We ended up closing 429."
Developers likely will face similar inventory challenges this year as well. For example, Gentry is projecting it will be able to deliver fewer homes in 2004 than it did in 2003, Hobson said.
"Because of the time commitment necessary to get subdivision approval and also preparing the land, we will be limited to delivering approximately 250 homes in 2004," he said.
Still, Hobson said the company is very happy with what it has achieved so far.
"It's been a great year," he said. "We have no complaints. It's just that next year, we won't be able to meet the demand."
