Oahu home sales hit record for 2016
JAMM AQUINO / MAY 14
Oahu’s condo median sale price was up 8.3 percent to $390,000 in 2016 from $360,000 in 2015.
Oahu’s housing market last year posted another record for prices but not transaction volume despite buyers making a flurry of purchases in December.
The Honolulu Board of Realtors released data today for homes sold last month, which cemented annual figures that made 2016 the fourth consecutive year with record median sale prices.
In December, the median sale price for single-family houses ticked up 4.3 percent to $730,000 from $700,000 in the same month the year before.
For 2016 as a whole, the figures were about the same — a 5 percent rise to $735,000 from $700,000 in 2015.
Condominium sale prices were more subdued in December, with just a 1 percent gain to $390,000 from $386,250 in the same month the year before. The almost flat change was due to a relatively high price in December 2015.
For all of 2016, Oahu’s condo median sale price was up 8.3 percent to $390,000 from $360,000 in 2015.
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One exceptional part of market activity in December was purchase volume. The number of single-family house sales jumped 14.8 percent to 341 from 297 a year earlier while condo sale volume surged 23.8 percent to 525 from 424.
Kalama Kim, president of the board and principal broker at Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, said the strong gains occurred amid relatively flat inventory of homes available for sale.
“December is typically a slower month for home buying, but that wasn’t the case in 2016 and home sales ended the year on a strong note with double-digit increases for both single-family homes and condos,” he said in a statement.
The sale volume in December represented the second-highest for any month last year. In 2015, there were seven other months with more sales than there were in December.
Kim also said the number of sales pending at the end of December was up by around 15 percent for condos and 20 percent for single-family houses, which suggests that volume for completed sales in the next few months should remain strong.
For all of last year, sale volume for single-family houses rose 6.5 percent to 3,678 from 3,455 the year before. Last year was only the second consecutive year for higher sales, and the total remains far below the record of 4,702 sales in 2004.
The number of condo sales last year rose 8.4 percent to 5,449 from 5,028 the year before and marked a second straight year with a gain. The record was 7,990 condo sales in 2005.
8 responses to “Oahu home sales hit record for 2016”
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Average locals should never sell their home here on Oahu even for a windfall profit. Once you sell you will have to pay much more to buy back a home here later if you are even able to. Rich outsiders and investors are buying up the limited housing inventory and driving prices out of reach. That’s how average locals are squeezed out of living here when they cannot own again and have to pay exorbitant rents. Give your home to your children who can’t afford to buy on their own so they can stay and live here. Keep your legacy home here otherwise you and your family will be forced to live on the mainland forever.
You must mean live on the mainland like you? Interesting to see you comment on something other than rail. You probably bought up land, etc. along the rail line and plan to make a bundle.
Complete nonsense, tons of dirt cheap land on the Big Island and all in pure organic untouched state. Go buy up as much as you want and stop promoting your B.S.
Ukulele – I think you bring up an extremely valid point. I was planning to downsize this year and sell my 5bdrm/2.5bath home in Central Oahu but am rethinking it for this precise reason. Sure my kids would want to live in their own homes, but at what cost? These days, a 1/1-500sf condo is $500k+ … that’s almost 25% more what i paid for my place in 1997. I’m only 6 years away from paying off my place, and it’s their’s if i decide to keep it and finally kick the bucket. dragon – Why all the venom? its beautiful there, but not everyone wants to live on the BI. How’s the job market there? There’s only so much fishing you can do
Plan on living with your mommy and daddy for the rest of your lives.
What goes up… The crash is coming soon, this is the design of the market. Many of these high priced properties will be sold at a loss in the next 2-4 years, when the economy declines. I will wait.
What is a crash to you? Hawaii properties have never in the history of sales “crashed” by my definition. If what you mean to say is “dip in the market” then you would be more accurate. A 5-10% dip is possible but then if you are planning to finance your purchase then more than likely your waiting game will backfire on you because interest rates are scheduled to go up at least 3 more times this year and probably 3 to 4 more times next year wiping out any savings you are expecting from a “dip”!
The more real estate values and interest rates go up, more people are priced out of the market, rents will go up, more people will end up moving away from their families and out of State or off island, and more people will end up homeless.