Real Estate Report - August 2023

O'ahu Market Report

Even though home prices and mortgage interest rates have not dropped, buyers and sellers are still coming together to buy and sell homes. The largest concentration of home sales on O'ahu are between $800,000 and $1 million for homes and $300,00 to $600,000 for condos. The competition for homes and condos in those price ranges is so strong that buyers are paying higher than or at asking. Price ranges where buyers are getting the largest discount are below $450,000 for homes and below $150,000 for condos. The $1,000,000 to $1,499,000 has also been one where buyers have negotiated a lower price, with homes closing in July at 98.5% of the asking price and 96.8% for condos. 

That said, the market is nowhere near where it was just a year ago before a jump in interest rates. Both home and condo sales are down compared to the same time last year (28.2% and 18.5% respectively). The average price for a home came in at $1,270,421 for homes and $617,683 for condos. That's a drop of 4.4% for homes and an increase of 4.5% for condos. Since those increases are annualized, that level of change is minimal.

The lack of new homes for sale coming on to the market has minimized the effect of dropping demand for housing. Last month, properties listed for sale were down by 28.8% for homes and 15.4% for condos. This dynamic has stabilized the market, causing stability in home values. It has also slowed down the speed of the market, allowing buyers more time to make their decision on a specific property. The homes and condos that sold last month were on the market for a median timeframe of 16 days before they accepted an offer.

To summarize, the market has slowed from the feeding frenzy of 2021 and 2022. Buyers have a bit more time to make a decision on buying the right home for them and sellers are still getting a price close to their asking price.