Nick Kawakami

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Island Living

The Market is Gobble-Gobble-Gobbling Homes!

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Hi Guys & Gals, I hope your holidays are kicking into gear and 2016 is finishing strong! The Kawakamis are all preparing for a busy season, and it seems that the market is following suit!

msr_oct2016

Homes, both house and condo, continue to fly off the market as inventories continue to drop and days-on-market fall. Median prices for condominiums increased by 7% over last year to $396,000, while single-family homes increased by 3.1% to $742,000. Days-on-market, the statistic that accounts for how long an available home sits on the market, dropped to 19 days for single-family homes and 20 days for condominiums. Considering these stats include the finicky multi-million dollar listings, it’s a really strong indication that things fly quickly!

So what does this mean for my clients, especially as we head into the traditionally-slower winter months? If you’re thinking about selling, there are still plenty of Buyers looking for a home. It’s my opinion that the shortage of housing throughout the summer months will give us a good group of healthy Buyers for the foreseeable future. For my clients looking to buy, there are still a lot of great opportunities, especially with these low interest rates. If you’re even considering purchasing something in the next couple of years, keep an eye on those interest rates! With a new president coming into power, and an sensitive bond market, it will be interesting to see how rates react.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Looking towards to the end of the year, I hope everyone has a safe holiday season!

Nick

Kapiolani Residence Announces Market Units!

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With the successful completion of their affordable release, Korean developer Samkoo has just released the market-priced units for its newest development, the Kapiolani Residence. Located on the makai-side of Kapiolani Blvd, and across the street from 24-hour fitness, the Kapiolani Residence is a 484-unit building geared for people looking for a low-cost, no-frills style of living.

kapiolani_residence

A quick-look at the market pricing shows 1-bedrooms starting at $486,500. Since these are market-priced units (and not a part of the affordable program), buyers only need to qualify under the following specs:

(1) Is a citizen of the United States or a resident alien;
(2) Is at least eighteen years of age;
(3) Is domiciled in the State of Hawaii and will physically reside in the unit to be purchased;
(4) Has a gross income suffcient to qualify for the loan to finance the purchase

If you qualify, and are interested in this project, let me know and I will hook you up with a bunch of information to get you started!

Home sales flatten, but condos still ablaze! 🔥🔥👍

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Happy October Everyone, and happy beginning-of-holiday-parties season! It’s crazy to think we are here already, and I hope you are all gearing up for Halloween and other fun things as we close out 2016! The stats for September 2016 are out, and here’s my take on the local market…

Single-family homes saw a stall in growth versus last year, as the number of closed sales remained the same. It’ll be interesting to watch this number as we end the year, and see if the trends continue “normal.” We did see a slight bump in median prices versus last year, but it remains inline with the growth of the overall year. The “outlier stat” for September single-family homes was the days-on-market (DOM), which has remained at 16 days for the third straight month. Usually in September, we start to see a little longer DOM, but not this year!

As for condos, number of sales climbed for the third month in a row and rose 6.7% versus last year. It’s hard to predict where condos will go month-by-month, because their production is so heavily tied to market factors and the products vary so greatly. In fact, median price is down versus last month, while last September saw a bump versus that August. DOM are back up to 20, and look for that to shorten again as less new inventory came on the market.

Like I said, it will be interesting to see how the year will fill out. There some factors that seem to follow market trends, and some that don’t. I’m also going to be watching the election results to see if that has any affect on our little island home as well!

Happy Halloween everyone, and a quick note of love to my friends and family in Florida! Hurricane Matthew sucks, but we are here if you need us!

As the Summer Finishes, Price Strength Continues

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Happy August everyone, and as the mainland braces for the coming fall, we continue to see a strong sales market here in Paradise! As expected, the low inventory has restricted the number of sales last month and pushed median prices higher than last year!

hbr-july-2016-housing-stats

While median prices dropped slightly versus our record-breaking June, both Single-Family (SF) homes and condos are up 6% and 14% over July last year. On top of that, both SF homes and condos are seeing close to 100% listing-to-sold pricing, meaning that even though Sellers are pushing prices, Buyers are willing to pay. The inventory trend will probably soften a little, especially as we enter the cooler winter season, but don’t expect to see a shift from this up market anytime soon.

5 Ways Marijuana Legalization Affects Hawaii Real Estate

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Change is coming (whether you like it or not), and the legalization of marijuana will have an impact on the local real estate market. Over the next couple of decades, and with earnings estimates in the hundreds-of-millions of dollars, it will become a legitimate business and a part of our daily lives. Here are five major ways that it will affect Hawaii real estate, and what to look out for in the years to come. [Read more…] about 5 Ways Marijuana Legalization Affects Hawaii Real Estate