Aloha! I hope you're having a great 2024 so far and we're going to recap on the sales that finished off in December of 2023. As the stats came out recently from the Honolulu Board of Realtors and we just want to report on what's been happening. 

Single Family Home Stats

First off, we're going to dive into single family homes and there we saw for the 23rd straight month in a row a drop in sales. Sales were actually down from the previous December of '22 down 9.9%. So, we had 182 home sales this past month compared to 202 sales a year prior. In addition to that, the median sales price for a single family home was down 5.1%. That was going from $1,049,500 a year ago to $996,500 this past month. 

It is taking home a little bit quicker to sell, which is a silver lining. Median days on market have dropped 28%. A year ago, there were 25 days on market. Now, it's just 18. In addition to that, pending sales are up 8.3% year over year. In December of '22 there were 168 pending sales and now we're at 182. So, things are picking up a little bit. We'll see if we continue on that slide of more than 23 months regarding sales. Maybe things will pick up in January and February, which the traditionally do. But, year over year comparison, we're seeing that slide in sales volume.

Condo Stats

Meanwhile, condos have also experienced a similar slide regarding sales volume being down. Now, for the 19th month in a row and it actually took more of a drastic year over year decrease in sales. Condo sales were down 24.4% from a year ago. A year ago, there were 360 condo sales on Oahu in December and now we had 272 this past month. Meanwhile, the median condo price didn't take as much a dip as the single family homes. As a matter of fact, they were actually up 1.5%. A year ago, that median condo price was $502,500 and now it's at $510,000. So, that's a step in the right direction for condos.

The median days on market are up 23.8%, so it's actually taking condos longer to sell. Whereas, the homes were contracting regarding days on market. A year ago, that median days on market was 21 days. It's now 26 days on Oahu, which is still considered a seller's market. I saw some stats recently from one of our agents over on Maui and it's taking over 200 days on average for a condo to sell on Maui! So, it's still a seller's market for condos (on Oahu). It's just that volume, having to do with that inventory. Pending sales are relatively flat year over year for condos.

In any event, if you want to find out what's going on in your particular neighborhood, whether it be homes, condos or anything else here on Oahu, we're always here to help. We're at 808-777-4880. Mahalo!

Can you guess which neighborhoods or areas saw the largest residential sales on Oahu in 2023? 

Highest Oahu Sales

The largest home sale on Oahu took place on Kahala Avenue. It was an oceanfront estate for $15 million. 

4505 Kahala Ave. Sold for $15 Million

However it was surpassed by far with the largest residential sale on Oahu. It was actually a penthouse condo at Park Lane that went for $27.5 million.

Penthouse #3800 @ Park Lane Sold for $27.5 Million

That was almost double the sales price of the highest home sale on Oahu, which was $15 million. That's phenomenal in my opinion because growing up on Oahu (back when i was in high school) there were home sales taking place all along this strip in Kahala Beach in the $20 million range. That would have been around 1990 at the peak of the Japanese Bubble. Fast forward 33 years and we still have sales trading under what they were back then.

In my opinion, Honolulu is still a good value. Especially if you're looking for trophy properties oceanfront homes in the sense that the highest sale on Oahu was actually a condo, not even a house. Furthermore, I'm going to talk a little more about what's going on across the country.

Largest Home Sales in the U.S.

Outside of of Hawaii, Inman News reported on the 31 largest single family home sales across the country in 2023. Just to make that list of 31, you had to be north of $50 million. It's kind of funny, because if you were to break down those 31 sales, they basically fall in general into 7 major cities or areas.

First off, let's start with the West Coast. You've got Malibu, which was the highest sale. Jay Z and Beyonce paid almost $200 million for a single family home. That took the cake for the highest sale of the year. Then, there were a handful in Beverly Hills. Then, working your way west, there were at least 3-4 in Aspen, CO, a ski town and a beautiful place. I've spent a lot of time there.

Then, working back east, there were several in Florida, both in Palm Beach, which has been in the news with Mar a Lago. There were big trades that took place in Palm Beach as well as Miami. Then, you hump up to Manhattan with a number of high end condo sales there. The last was the Hamptons with a number of sales. That's basically 7 cities or neighborhoods across the country where all these wealthy people are gravitating towards to pay these high end values for homes. 

Oahu is a Bargain

Once again, this is making our island look like a discount. There were some larger trades on the neighbor islands. However, once again Kahala is still a bargain with $15 million being the biggest sale of the year for a house. Just in the last few years, we had several trades in Lanikai in the $20 million range or over in Beachside in the past.

Beachside, Kailua Home Listed for $50 Million (MLS # 202327941)

With that magic number of $50 million number in mind (to make the national list), there is a current listing for sale in Beachside for $50 million and that will be by far the largest sale in Hawaii. The highest sale we've seen on Oahu was north of $40 million for the old Kaiser Estate (in Portlock). Once again, that was back in 1990.

Once again, Hawaii is on discount if you're in that high end multi-million dollar budget. We're also still a bargain when it comes to owner occupants. We've got one of the lowest property tax rates throughout the country. So, if you're in the market for a luxury home or if you need some help selling your trophy property on Oahu, we'd be glad to help. Mahalo!

I can't believe it's been roughly 5 months since the Lahaina fires in early August of 2023 and everyone is still just trying to take it in. There's been just so much devastation and loss. I talked about this awhile back. There were some silver linings with Maria Lanakila Church in the last message I did, which is beautiful. 

Wood Frame vs. Concrete Construction

Today, I'm going to talk about something that's a little bit close to home. This is reminder of things that can stand over time, which is construction. You hear about the story of the "Big Bad Wolf" and the different construction materials. A lot of Lahaina Town was built with wood framed construction. There's not a lot that has survived. Some of the oceanfront condos such as Lahaina Shores (and Lahaina Roads) that were concrete made it.

Noah's Ark on Front Street

However, one thing I want to talk about today is back in the early 80's when I first moved to Maui. My Grandma and her husband at the time, Peter Knight built a spec house along Front Street. We always joked about it. We used to call it "Noah's Ark" because it literally looked like Noah's Ark. We also had another nickname for it, which was "The James Bond House" because it was really cool at the time and we were little kids. We weren't used to seeing anything like this. It had surveillance cameras, a wine cellar and a home cinema/movie theater. It was just really cool and something different.

"Noah's Ark" Seen from Front Street

It was definitely "out of the box" for its time. It was a funky house. It wasn't for everyone, but it was built out of concrete. Everything I'm sure is toasted on the interior, but the shell of it still remains. The irony here is us calling it Noah's Ark over all those years ago. You know, Noah surviving the flood (in the Bible) and now this structure here on Front Street survived the Lahaina fires.

Once again, there's not a real good takeaway. From a memory standpoint, most of what I knew as a kid in Lahaina is gone and it's nice to see one thing that is still standing. My sister was able to get into Lahaina with a friend, who has property there and got a few photos.

Our Old Home after Fire

Puamana Nui after Lahaina Fire

Remnants of 221 Puapihi St. and Tennis Court Next Door

Our old house in Puamana Nui is completely gone. The tennis courts are still there, but all throughout front street it just looks like a war zone. I'm sure everyone has been seeing it over the news the last 5 months now. A lot of commercial property is completely gone. 505 Front Street was a waterfront commercial property with a lot of great restaurants and memories in that place. Huey Lewis had a restaurant there back in the day as well. 

There's a lot of history in Lahaina and I know everyone is working to rebuild and it's going to be a long haul ahead. My heart goes out to all the fire fighters. I've got friends that are firefighters there on the island and I just couldn't imagine what they went through... Wishing everyone an awesome 2024!

If you're a property owner on Oahu, I've got great news for you! I'm not sure if you've been paying attention to the news over the holidays, however on December 21st, a federal judge stepped in and issued a summary judgement stopping the city's draconian law, which was ordinance 22-7, which wanted to take the minimum rental period on Oahu from 30 days to 90 days. That was in complete contrast to the landlord tenant code, which deals with month to month rentals.

Forever, since I've been in the business (now, I'm dating myself, 23 years), it's always been a 30 day minimum for rentals on Oahu. Now, obviously there are areas on the island where you can rent for shorter terms. Some are in Waikiki, however they have to have the specific zoning or be grandfathered in to do something less than 30 days. There's been a big fight over the last several years with Airbnb's, VRBO's and short term rentals on the island. 

I've always been non-biased. When I do represent a client, I do let them know the minimum rental period in general is 30 days outside of specific areas. There's a few outside of Waikiki. We can get into those later. Feel free to send me a message or we can cover that on another meeting here. However, since I've been in the business, I've always said it's a 30 day minimum. I never took sides. I never tried to push the envelope less than 30 days. i thought that was fair. I get it when people live in a residential neighborhood and you see people "turning and burning" every couple of days or weeks. That's not what those particular neighborhoods were zoned for. But, I think the 30 days is fair and I'm glad we're getting back to some kind of sanity here on Oahu because it did take away people's property rights and what they want to do with their places. I've never had skin in that game. I've had clients that have done 30 day rentals and it was going to effect them severely financially. 

Meanwhile, the lobbyists behind that bill (41, which became ordinance 22-7) were everyone in the hotel industry. The hotels right now have been flush since they were able to open back up after COVID. There's really no need to take it from 30 to 90 days, so I'm glad a federal judge with some sense stepped in and now it's back to business as usual on Oahu.

If you're looking to purchase a place on Oahu, where you can do something short term, feel free to reach out. I've been doing this long enough where I know the places where you can and can't do it. In the meantime, I hope you're having a great 2024 so far. We're almost a week into it here and I look forward to you this coming year. Mahalo!

Aloha! It's a gloomy day here in December, but I'm here to talk about the local market update for November of 2023. First off, we're going to start off with the single family homes.

Local Market Update for Homes

Waimanalo to Kailua saw the largest increase in sales transactions year over year and that went from 17 sales in November of '22 to 28 sales this past month. So, that's a 65% increase in sales year over year. In the single family home market, it was 50/50 in neighborhoods that were up in transactions as well as down in transactions. The condo market is going to be a little bit different, which we will jump into shortly. Next, we're going to talk about the appreciation for single family homes on Oahu.

Meanwhile, regarding the median home price here on Oahu. Waialae-Kahala saw the largest increase in median sales price year over year and that was going from $1,627,500 to $2,900,000. That is a 78% increase. So, we'll see if this is a sign of things to come, but normally Waialae-Kahala leads coming out of a slow market.

Local Market Update for Condos

Regarding condo sales here on Oahu in November, the North Shore saw the largest increase. It was actually up 200%. That was going from 1 sale in November of '22 to 3 sales. This is the Ocean Villas at Turtle Bay behind me. I just happened to be up here on the North Shore because I've gotta drop a sign at a listing I've got in Kawela Mauka, which is a beautiful home built in 2016 on 2.7 acres. Sorry to go off on a tangent. Back to condos... Outside of the North Shore, 2/3 of the major neighborhoods on Oahu were down this past month. That would be 14 of the 21 major neighborhoods for the Honolulu Board of Realtors. Not everything is rosy for condo sales on Oahu, but the North Shore is definitely a place that continues to see some demand.

Regarding the median condo price on Oahu, Waialae-Kahala also saw the largest increase. I've got Kahala Regency behind me and it was up 289% year over year. That was going from $168,500 to $655,000. Most likely what happened is more sales took place at Kahala Beach Apartments, which are Leasehold condos. That's why things were probably so low last year. Hence, the heavy appreciation. $655,000 is that median price now and that's probably going to take place over near Waialae Gardens, Tropicana Village and Tropic Gardens, which is directly behind me (near Kahala Towers). Those are low level town houses they're a great value to be in the 'hood' here in Kahala.

If you have any questions about real estate here on Oahu, feel free to give us a call at 808-777-4880. In the meantime, wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

140 Waikoloa Road (MLS # 399950) in Hana, Maui

Did you know you can still get a beachfront home on Maui for under $2.5 million? Don't worry, that ship hasn't sailed yet. There's one available in Hana today listed for $2,495,000 on a beautiful black sand beach. Built in 1982, this home features high pitched ceilings, has 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and over 2,500 square feet of living area on .69 acres.

Imagine living in one of the price spots in Hana Maui for a fraction of some condo prices in other parts of the island. If you're looking to have a place in the same zip code where Oprah Winfrey lives (let alone on the ocean), now may be your chance. With the lack of inbound traffic to Maui since the Lahaina fires a few months back, timing could be right to own a trophy beachfront location on the Valley Isle.

If you have more questions about this beach front home in Hana or open to explore other Hana, Maui properties, feel free to give us a call for more info. @ 808-777-4880.

Well, there's one silver lining regarding the real estate stats here on Oahu. However, you're going to have to hang around to the very end to find out what's in store. This is David Buck with Harcourts Island Real Estate here to report on the market stats for November of 2023.

Single Family Home Stats

First, we're going to talk about the single family homes and there we saw a dip in the number of sales transactions year over year. We had 192 closings a year ago in November and this past month we saw 180 and that's down 6.3%. Meanwhile, we also saw a dip in the median home price, which was down 4.3%. A year ago, the median sales price was $1,149,500 and this past month we were at $1,100,055. It's a trend we're continuing to see with a softening in the market. But, we're down just single digits.

Meanhwile, days on the market are picking up. They're actually up 61.1% going from 18 days to 29 days. However, it's still considered a seller's market because anything less than 60 days is a seller's market according to the National Association of Realtors. Another stat to keep an eye on for homes would be the increase in months of active inventory. That's up 40.9%. That's going from 2.2 to 3.1 months. Once again, that's still a seller's market because NAR says anything under 6 months is considered a seller's market. Stay tuned and we'll jump into the condo stats.

Condo Stats

We tapered off with the home stats talking about how months of remaining inventory was up over 40%. It's actually up as well for condos, up 47.8%. That's going from 2.3 months to 3.4 months. Once again, technically a seller's market. Meanwhile, median days on market have also increased for condos. That was going from 18 to 23 days, which was a 27.8% increase. 

Condo sales have also been down. They're down 8.8%, going from 340 sales a year ago to 310 sales. No, finally that silver lining that I've talked about was the median condo price on Oahu. It was actually up 7.5%! So, in November of 2022, that median condo price was $480,000. It's now at $516,179. That's the silver lining we're seeing in the market right now.

Overall, there are deals taking place. The decrease in interest rates has helped with more buyer traffic back into the market. However, typically this time of year heading into the Holidays it's a little bit slower. But, I am seeing an uptick in due to rates and it'll be interesting to see what happens as we head into 2024. We are in December and I'll be up later in the month to cover the local market stats. Mahalo!

This past month we saw 2 major announcements with luxury conodel project on both Oahu and Maui.

Trump Tower Waikiki

First off, it was announced that Trump Tower Waikiki would be rebranded as Wakea Waikiki Beach by Irongate, who also developed both Trump Tower and the Ritz Carlton Waikiki. They're planning on a $100 million renovation and the transition is expected to take place in early February of 2024. It will be interesting to see how this affects the inventory in the building because historically ever since it was built, Trump Tower Waikiki has the most inventory, if not the most, it's now 2nd most to Ritz Carlton Waikiki. Both of those projects are carrying a lot of inventory and the reason why it it's really hard for those owners to pencil when renting their place out. Irongate is set up to make all of the money there.

With the new rebranding of Wakea, I don't really envision things changing as far as income goes. It will be interesting to see how it affects the homeowners with that renovation. Just to put things into perspective, as of today there are 54 units for sale in Trump Tower Waikiki and that's out of 469 units total in the building. That's 11.5% of the building's inventory is on the market for sale. Traditionally, for other (condo) projects on Oahu, it's in that 1-3 percentile. The Ritz Carlton is actually higher than Trump right now with 11.7% of available inventory (67 for sale). 

We're going to jump into another exciting announcement that took place over on the Valley Isle of Maui.

Montage Kapalua

Meanwhile, it was announced that Tennessee based KWC Management is acquiring the Montage Kapalua. It hasn't been announced yet if they are going to rebrand or get rid of the Montage name, however KWC was the company that is behind Holiday Inns. In the meantime, the big difference between Montage Kapalua and Trump Tower Waikiki is that the Montage isn't flush with inventory. There's actually only 4 units available there today that range between the low $4 million range up to the high $12 million mark. It's kind of dichotomy there on how things are run and how much inventory is for sale. 

Rebranding and Effect on HOA's

Existing Branding of Trump Tower Waikiki and Montage Kapalua

It'll be interesting to see how the HOA's (Home Owners Associations) are run going forward because it's not too often you see the name of an entire complex change. There's one instance that come to mind. There's a building on the opposite site of Waikiki from Trump currently named Makee Ailana and it used to be called the Scandia. What's different about Trump is it was developed as Trump Tower Waikiki, so it's going to be interesting to see how it affects the HOA and all their documentation. Whether it's just going to be from a marketing standpoint where they change the name or if everything is going to get rebranded. 

Management companies come and go. Some of the names that come to mind in Waikiki are Aqua Hotels, Castle Resorts, sometimes they run the front desks of these condotels. However they come and go. Sometimes, those contracts come up for bid, but in general the names of the buildings don't change. That's what's significant about this Trump Waikiki scenario.

It'll be interesting to see how things play out going forward. If you have any interest in luxury brands, either on Maui or Oahu and looking for a condotel product or something that's just a little more luxury lifestyle to turnkey and you don't want to put it into a hotel pool, we're available for all the above. Mahalo!

Aloha! It's another Wednesday and today we're going to touch on another episode of We Need Inventory. Today, we're going to talk about La Pietra here in Diamond Head, adjacent to La Pietra School for Girls. There, we have 38 town homes at the base of Diamond Head. It's a beautiful gated community. There's been 3 trades that have taken place so far this year, but the last sale was in July at $2,900,000. We have not had a listing hit the market since. So, traditionally every year we have several that sell. Now, we're going on 5 and coming up on 6 months without a sale or listing at La Pietra. 

No Inventory = Great Time to Sell

If you know anyone looking to sell their town home there at La Pietra, now could be a great time because inventory is tight and we need inventory. In particular, for a quality product near Diamond Head.

Aloha, We're here to talk about the local market update for October of 2023 and we're finally starting to see a leveling off or balance in home and condo sales.

Local Report on Homes

First off, we're going to start off with the single home sales and Downtown-Nuuanu saw the largest increase year over year from October of '22 to this past month. There, we saw 4 sales a year ago and we had 8 take place this past month (100% increase). In the 21 major neighborhoods on Oahu (tracked by the Honolulu Board of Realtors), only 10 were down regarding sales volume. That's a big change relative to what we've been seeing with the majority of the neighborhoods being down. So, only 10 of the 21 or half were down regarding the number of sales.

Regarding the median sales price for October, Aina Haina-Kuliouou saw the largest increase year over year, which is up 62% and that was going from $1,496,625 to $2,427,500. That significant gain of 62%, there's normally a story we see behind that when there's a jump like that because more trades were probably taking place in Hawaii Loa Ridge vs. say Aina Haina, Niu Valley and Kuliouou, where you can see homes trade in that $2 million range. However, normally when you see the median price north of $2 million, it's because we're seeing more sales volume taking place in Hawaii Loa Ridge. 

Local Report on Condos

Waialae-Kahala saw the largest increase in sales year over year. It's up 100%, however that was only going from 1 sale a a year ago to 2 sales, but it was the largest percentage increase. Another promising thing here for our market is that although sales were down in 11 of the 21 neighborhoods, it's still roughly half. That's a big turnaround from earlier this year and last year, when we were seeing 80 and 90% of the neighborhoods being down. Now, it's just roughly half. 

The largest condo appreciation was found between Kapahulu-Diamond Head. There, the median price was up 35% year over year, going from $825,000 to $1,115,000. To find out what's happening in your specific neighborhood, because they are all different, and they're constantly changing, feel free to reach out to our team here at Harcourts Island Real Estate. We can be reached at 808-777-4880.

In the meantime, have a Happy Thanksgiving. Mahalo!