Single Family Home Stats

We ended up the month of April with a median sales price of $809,000. That's actually a 5.5% bump from a year ago, which is pretty exciting considering the COVID environment that we're in. However, the number of sales were down 22% with 248 sales. That's definitely not the norm we're used to, however that's the environment we're in with COVID-19.

We're also seeing a big drop in the number of new listings coming to market, which are down 45.5%! So, if you're a homeowner and you're thinking about selling, there is way less competition right now. Meanwhile, the overall inventory in the market is down 24.6% from a year ago. Buyers that are serious in the market have a lot less to choose from. If you're thinking about putting your home on the market, now is a great time.

Condo Stats

There were 343 condo sales in April. That means transaction volume is down almost 28% from April of last year. This is evidence of the impact of the stay at home rules have had so far on the real estate market. The number of new condo listings in April was also down by about 40%, which means there will be few choices for condo buyers in the coming months. At the same time, prices seem to be holding firm.

The median condo price in April at $450,000 is 7.4% higher than the median was in April a year ago. Buyers are still active in the market and low interest rates are continuing to stay low for the foreseeable future. Although, market conditions are uncertain, the dynamics can favor Sellers who were thinking about putting a property on the market.

Every home is different and every market is unique. To find out what the current market can mean for you, call us anytime. In the meantime, stay safe and don't forget to keep washing your hands. Aloha!

Happy Aloha Friday from Honolulu! Today is May Day, which is normally considered "Lei Day" here in Hawaii. Unfortunately, most of the normal celebrations we're used to on this day aren't taking place. Rather than dwelling on the negative, we'd like to take this time to be positive and provide some value to you during these times.

As we enter into our 2nd month here for quarantine, here are 7 things we came up with you could be do to boost the value of your home:

1. Replace Wall Plates and Switch Covers

Just like a good throw or statement cushion, wall plates and switch covers are a great accessory which can transform the ambience of your home. If you’ve never considered these an accessory, or perhaps your view of these are ‘cheap’ or ‘outdated’, then the chances are you just haven’t come across the right ones! It’s super easy to replace those cheap plastic covers with more elegant wooden, ceramic, or metal ones with better aesthetic appeal and ROI. And did we mention, kind on the budget!

NEXT STEP: Where else but Wall Plate Warehouse! They offer a huge selection and have a great FAQ’s and blog page where they walk through all the different types of options and also installation! Free shipping and great customer service!

2. Refresh Your Artwork

Have you been looking at that blank space on the wall for years thinking ‘that would be a great place for a piece of art”... Well, now is a better time than ever! Sometimes increasing your home’s value is as simple as swapping out that dated family heirloom for some- thing a little more contemporary. Measure the space and get online searching. Once you find something, consider using tape (wall safe of course) to attach to the wall where the frame/piece will go, this will give you a good idea of spatial use.

NEXT STEP: Now we are not suggesting you spend a fortune on a original masterpiece – although if that tickles your fancy go ahead and splurge! But if you do want to keep on a budget, consider etsy. com. It’s such a great place to find undiscovered artists! You can even narrow your search in etsy to find someone in your local area, how cool is that! You might have never known Suzie two blocks away, is the next Picasso!

3. Swap Out Old Lights & Lighting Fixtures

“This house is too bright and airy” said no buyer ever!! If you can’t remember what your lighting fixtures look like without looking up, This might be an indication they need some attention. Lighting fixtures should be the jewelry of your house! Now saying that, does your jewelry look like it’s from the 50’s, not in a ‘precious antique type’ way but in more of a ‘original cookie cutter, grandma’s house type’ (note grandmas please don’t be offended, it’s not personal!) way? If so, let’s go shopping! Improving your light fixtures will improve the potential buyers check! When you’re replacing fixtures, don’t forget to swap out your old light bulbs for ones with a higher wattage. You want buyers to be able to see all of the highlights when they walk through your home and if you have dim lighting, they may be missing out on some key features.

NEXT STEP: Light fixtures might be a little harder to come by in this lockdown, but explore local stores and call around to see if anyone is offering delivery or curbside pickup. If all else fails, start a Pinterest board and start saving all those favorites you find, so when those stores open back up, you will be front of line!

4. Don't Forget the Outside

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. This is a place you can make a huge amount of impact while stuck at home, with little investment and big elbow grease! Simple things like mowing the grass, removing weeds and raking up leaves can make a huge difference! And did we mention fresh air! With this time at home show your garden some love and with a little tender love and care over a couple of weeks you might just surprised with the outcome. Think about making your landscaping clean and something which looks easy to care for. If you have a driveway, paths or garden bed curbs, just cleaning up the edges can give the ap- peal a crisp clean look. If you are looking to go the extra mile, maybe a new mailbox, some potted plants and a few bags of mulch.

NEXT STEP: Find those garden gloves and get to it! Don’t forget to take a before and after picture!

5. Re-Grout Your Shower Tiles

We all know renovated bathrooms are the real money makers in selling property! Now, we are certainly not suggesting a $10k+ DIY renovation! But with that in mind, consider how you can refresh your bathroom. For many people it means restoring the shower and floor tiles which are often neglected even through regular cleaning. Let’s be honest, tending to the tile grout is often not a weekly cleaning to-do. Similarly, re-grouting your bathroom tile can make your bathroom shine again in a pinch. Re-grouting tiles is an easy, small project that can make tiled walls feel like new.

NEXT STEP: If this is something new for you, Youtube is a great tool for tips and tricks from renovating experts! Jump on check it out, use their recommendations!! Again, don’t forget before and after pictures!

6. Replace Your Cabinet Door Handles and Cabinet Drawer Pulls

Keeping on the budget theme, we are not suggesting a full kitchen renovation. Plus, like really, who has enough sanity for that right now?! But a way to fake it, is by updating and replacing door handles. Obviously like everything you can spend as much as you like, but you will be surprised there are many great looking options for as little as $1-$3 each! And for most, this isn’t even a full day project! Try and consider matching the hardware color or style to lighting fixtures and/or wall switches to keep everything in a cohesive theme.

NEXT STEP: Start searching the internet for ideas of what you like. Large home improvement and hardware stores are open like Home Depot and Lowes and have a great range of products. Additionally, as we have suggested before, even if you don’t know the owner of your local hardware store, consider getting in touch, saying hello in this difficult time, I’m sure they might appreciate some local support.

7. Go Minimal

We get it! You are probably been overwhelmed with social media telling you ‘use this time to declutter your space’ uhhhh. Easier said than done! But in keeping with the Netflix theme of virus lockdown, have you watched the Marie Kondo ‘Tidying Up series? She is a genius at teaching tips and tricks of decluttering your space. And if nothing else you will feel better even just by looking at the amazing before and after of declutter-ing spaces.

NEXT STEP: While you prepare to sweat, put on your sweats and lift up that remote!

Local Single Family Home Report

Wahiawa saw the largest increase in inventory that was up 240% from last year. The spike showed the largest inventory increase by far and we might need to dig into that a little bit more to see what was actually going on. As far as sales volume goes, the Windward Coast saw the largest increase, which was up 300% from 2 sales in March of last year to 8 sales this year.

The largest increase for median sales price was between Aina Haina to Kuliouou which was up 37%. It went from $950,500 last year to $1,302,000! So, east Oahu is fairing strong in this market and Dianne will be sharing what's gong on with the local condo report.

Local Condo Report

Through the first quarter of 2020, our condominium market was fairly stable. Two thirds of the number of markets we track showed increases in the number of closed sales. One notable neighborhood with strong performance was Kaneohe, where the number of sales was up 52%. Waialae-Kahala was also a strong neighborhood where 58% more sales closed in the first quarter of this year.

If we look at Waikiki, which is one of our condo-centric neighborhoods with a lot of condo sales activity, we saw that the number of sales through the first quarter was down by about 20%. In Makiki-Moiliili so far this year the number of sales have been flat.

At the end of March, less than 1/3 of our neighborhoods showed an increase in the number of new listings. In the Ewa Plain, the number of new listings is up by about 25%. Meanwhile, the number of new listings in Waikiki was down 28%. We can see there's a great deal of variation from neighborhood to neighborhood. We're watching the trends very carefully and we look forward to talking to you about what this market might mean for you.

If you're thinking of buying or selling a property is this a good time? Even though our doors are closed, we are here virtually and we'd love to talk with you. Please take care of yourselves, wash your hands and be safe. Aloha!

Yesterday we had a Zoom Meeting with the sales team over at Azure Ala Moana. If you're not familiar with Azure, it's a new condo project on the mauka side of Ala Moana Shopping Center off Keeaumoku St. with close proximity to Walgreens, Walmart, Target and more. Here's some of the takeaways we got about this exciting new project:

The Team

Developer - Featuring Rick Stack - Formerly of Alexander and Baldwin

Architect - Design Partners - known for their work on Waihonua, The Collection Ala Moana and Kapiolani Residence.

Interior Design - Hirsch Bedner Associates

Contractor - Albert Kobayashi

The Perks of Owning Azure

• Guest Suites
• Movie Theater
• Only 11 Units/floor
• Maint. Fees only $.85/square foot
• 9' Ceilings on the 34th Floor and Up (8.5' on lower floors)

82% SOLD Out

So far to date, they are 82% SOLD and completely sold out of the 1 bedroom units. With the onset of COVID-19, showing presentations are a little more tricky. The developer is also offering incentives such as 2.5-5% Credit to Buyers and Free Storage Lockers.  There's a select amount of remaining inventory and feel free to contact any of our agents that are versed and up to date on this project:

David | Dianne | Mark | Rick | Yolanda

In the midst of the COVID-19 lock-down here in Honolulu, one condo project in Waikiki that seems to be feeling the pain more than others is the Ritz-Carlton Waikiki.

Tower 1 at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Waikiki

There are currently 73 listings for sale in the building, with only 1 in escrow. Meanwhile, there have only been 7 sales in the past 6 months. Based upon that, the absorption rate is MUCH more sluggish than the overall Waikiki condo market, let alone the island of Oahu.

Here are several of the reasons why this "perfect storm" is taking place for units there outside of COVID-19:

Speculative Buyers Overpaid

Much of the inventory in the building was sold to 2nd homeowners overseas. The same problem took place at Trump Tower Waikiki (same developer). They marketed this project overseas and speculative Buyers thought they could lock in prices pre-construction and then sell for a profit when the building was complete.  Keep in mind - the prices paid both here and Trump Tower Waikiki were "above market" to begin with, which leaves little room on the upside. Trump Tower for many years after completion had a ton of inventory for many years - often upwards of 70+ units for sale at any given time. Today there are 59 there.

Low Cashflow Returns

Unlike most other "condotel" buildings in Waikiki, the management rates and overrides taken by the onsite management makes it really hard for the owners to make any money. Don't get me wrong - these are both nice buildings. It's just that the NOI is typically an anemic low single digit return. Since there's little room on short term appreciation and/or cashflow, I've always said these buildings are more of a "lifestyle" play.

If you're looking to own in a great location with well known brand names over the long haul, these could still be decent "long term" plays for 2nd home ownership in Waikiki. If that's something you're looking for, these next few months could be some great times to shop for a unit here as there's A LOT to choose from and very little selling.

Single Family Home Stats

We finished off the month with a median sales price of $810,000. That's up 3.5% from last year. Meanwhile, we had a nice bump in the number of sales, which were up 9.8% to 303 sales for the month. Now keep in mind, most of these sales were under contract prior to Corona Virus. The numbers are looking really good. Days on Market were actually down 37.5% which went from 24 days last year to just 15 days this year. We'll see how that transitions into April stats as this takes into effect the Corona Virus situation because numbers of new listings hitting the market are actually down 16.7%.

Condo Stats

The condominium market already appears to be showing signs of slowing. The number of closed sales at the end of March was down by about 12% compared to the number of sales that closed in March of 2019. Median prices are still strong. The median price in March of 2020 was $435,000, which was up by about 1.4% compared to March of last year. 

The real indicators that we're keeping an eye on are the number of new listings which are coming on the market in March of this year. That was down by 14% and we also track the number of pending sales. Pending sales were down by almost 12%. These are both indicators that suggest we're likely to see a shift in market dynamics with fewer homes on the market and reduced inventory. If you've been thinking about putting your property on the market, please contact us:

David E. Buck, Realtor 808-371-3509

Dianne Willoughby, Realtor 808-347-9945

We'd love to talk to you about what this shift in inventory might mean for you.

In the meantime, be careful, stay safe, stay at home and don't forget to wash your hands :) Aloha!

Aloha - I just wanted to give you a quick and exciting update we have for HawaiiHomeListings.com What we've done is added a virtual tour button to the listing detail page. That way you can schedule a virtual showing with your Realtor, so that you don't have to get out of the comfort of your own home during this Corona Virus epidemic. 

If you're on the home page and you click on a listing and would like to see a property or are on the mainland, you can click on the button that says "schedule a virtual tour". You'd then fill in your information in the pop up window. If you are already are logged in or have an account with us then it should either auto-populate or you'll already be in. 

We look forward to doing some business with you here in the near future. Mahalo!

Aloha - today is April 1st or "April Fools Day" which would normally be a fun and festive time of year, however it's not all fun and laughter as we're all dealing with this Corona Virus epidemic. Today is actually my first day to make it into the office in over a week. Kids have been out of school on spring break and they have just started back up virtually as of today. So, here I am at the office.

It's been business as usual. Realtors are considered "essential services" according to the Governor and the Mayor here in Honolulu. So, we're still getting business done. We're still getting transactions done. I've got 3 deals in escrow right now that are still chugging along. I've also got an offer on a listing of mine we're negotiating on. Although it's kind of been business as usual, Honolulu has been in a lockdown for the last few weeks.

Here we are out the back on Kapahulu Ave., which is the gateway to Waikiki near where our office is located. Typically, if you were here on a week day afternoon, this road would be bustling with cars, kids getting out of school, etc. You could see breaks right now where's there's not a car on the road. 

It's an eerie time, but we're still doing real estate. I just want to wish everyone the best and stay healthy and safe out there. Mahalo :)

Local Market Report for Single Family Homes

Community Park in Mililani Town

Mililani had the largest increase in the number of sales with a 114% increase. It jumped from 7 sales in February of 2019 to 15 sales in February of this year.

Aerial View of Hawaii Kai

As far as the median sales price goes, Hawaii Kai saw the largest spike with a 33% increase. That went from $1,357,500 in February of last year to $1,800,000 in February of this year. So, it's a great time for Sellers.

Local Market Report for Condos

If we look year to date, the number of neighborhoods that have had increases in the number of sales is about equal to the number of neighborhoods that had decreases in the number of sales. So, our market is relatively stable. The neighborhood that had the largest increase in the number of sales was Kaneohe.

Eden at Haiku Woods Condos in Kaneohe

In Kaneohe, there was more than a doubling of sales. It went from 7 sales in February of 2019 to 15 sales in 2020.

Kuapa Isle Condos in Hawaii Kai

Our highest median price was in Hawaii Kai where the median price in February of 2020 reached almost $800,000. It's an interesting time to be in real estate. It's a very interesting time if you have a house or a condominium to sell. Harcourts is different because we do auctions. The following will cover auction activity for this month.

Harcourts Auctions Activity in March

We are the auction experts

In the height of this global pandemic with the corona virus, real estate doesn't sleep. Harcourts Auctions is still getting properties sold. This past Wednesday, we held our non-distressed auction platform virtually out of California. There were 21 properties for sale and of those, 7 were just "previews" as we're now rolling out auctions in the Bay Area. However, 14 properties went to market, 8 sold and 5 others are currently under negotiations. Only 1 of the 14 is "still available". In addition, every single one of those auction listings had offers on them and some had multiple offers. So, this is a great business model and a great option for Sellers in this current market environment.

We're hosting these auctions virtually. You can still look at the homes obviously, however the auction process is taking place online and you don't have to go into a room with a bunch of bidders. If you want more information on this, feel free to reach out to us at 808-777-4880. Aloha!

Single Family Home Stats

The month ended up with a median sales price of $765,000 which is down 3% from February of 2019, which was $789,000. Closed sales on the other hand were up 18.8%, which was awesome! It went from 208 sales last year to 247 this year. The Days on Market however have been increasing by 40% from just 25 days a year ago to 35 days this past month.

Sellers are now receiving 98.3% of their asking price, which is incredible. Just keep in mind that is based upon the last asking price before they sold. Sometimes they may start higher, but it's 98.3% of their last of their last asking price. It's still a great market for sellers and Dianne will be sharing what's happening in the condominium market.

Condo Sales Stats

The number of sales year to date for condominiums is up 7.4% compared with 2019. It's an average of about 350 condo sales per month in both January and February of 2020. The number of Days on the Market has increased by 40% staying on the market 35 days instead of 25 days a year ago. Our median price for condos is up by 3.6% to $430,000 in February of 2020.

The number of new listings for condos is down to 369, which is a 3.6% decline from February of 2019. Months of inventory for condominiums remains unchanged at 3.6 months of inventory. We're keeping an eye on that and all of the other indicators because we just had an announcement that the Corona Virus has now been declared a national emergency and we're waiting to see how that is going to impact our real estate sales.

Remember, every home is different and every market is different. If you'd like to find out what this means for you, please call us at Harcourts Island Real Estate - 808-777-4800 Aloha!