Number of Oahu home sales drop

Coming into 2008, there just might be a little spice left in Oahu's residential real estate market.

The dish has cooled, but real estate experts have said that it's still enticing enough to catch its share of nibblers. And what remains is heartier fare than most mainland markets are serving up; for the full year, home and condominium median prices posted gains.

"Even though the number of sales has declined in the last few months of 2007, we are coming off of such record highs that we are still at the levels we attained during the last peak cycle between 1988 and 1991," said Berton Hamamoto, president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, which released resale statistics yesterday.

The Honolulu real estate market has performed better than many mainland cities, Hamamoto said. Still judging from December's statistics, Hawaii's real estate industry will have to work harder for its supper than it has in the past.

"Housing resales during December were low, but this was not unexpected," added Harvey Shapiro, research economist at the Board of Realtors. "The economy in Hawaii has been maintaining its strength, although there are some indications of a coming slowdown."

Sales dropped a dramatic 30.6 percent for single-family homes in December and 22.9 percent for condominiums. Prices, however, held.

"I actually enjoyed one of the best Decembers ever," said John Riggins of John Riggins Real Estate. "I sold seven properties, and two to cash buyers."

More than half of single-family home buyers paid more than $610,000 for a house in December, a 0.6 percent decline from the year prior $613,500. Meanwhile, the median price paid for a condominium in December increased 1.4 percent to $320,000.

For the year, single-family home sales have dropped 10.2 percent and condominium resales have dropped 13.8 percent; however there is still cause for optimism.

"Oahu's median home prices showed modest gains of 2.1 percent and 4.8 percent for single-family and condo sale prices, as opposed to negative numbers for several U.S. cities," Hamamoto said.

In addition, high-end real international and mainland buyers are still active in the $5 million-and-above category, and realistically priced and well-maintained homes are moving in most other categories, said Chason Ishii, president of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties.

Home sales

The number of homes sold on Oahu in December with the median price and percentage change from the same month last year:

Homes sales
December 2007	240
December 2006	346
Change	-30.6%
Median price
December 2007	$610,000
December 2006	$613,500
Change	-0.6%
Condos sales
December 2007	353
December 2006	458
Change	-22.9%
Median price
December 2007	$320,000
December 2006	$315,500
Change	+1.4%