Honolulu Condos: There Was Some Good News in Last Decade for Oahu and Honolulu Housing

There Was Some Good News in Last Decade for Oahu and Honolulu Housing

The turbulence of the past 10 years purged an unprecedented run up in the housing market and its accompanying ill-conceived sub-prime financing. Fortunately, not all the real estate news was bad and despite the stop and start market since the boom, the 10-year real estate snapshot is positive. Here is a summary of how the housing landscape changed since 1999:

Multiple Listing Service goes online

"Ten years ago there was no other way to give property information to the customer other than ripping the page right out of the MLS book," recalls Russell Nishimoto, Realtor and partner at Prudential Locations. "We would get a new book every two weeks, one week it would be condos and the next it was single-family."

Today, the worldwide marketplace is literally at the fingertips of buyers and sellers who have access to a computer and can log onto the Internet. In just the few years since the MLS was made available to the public, the typical buyer now begins their search online. According to data collected by the National Association of Realtors, as many as 90 percent of buyers do some of their search online.

"Our role as agents remains to provide credible and constructive input and recommendations to successfully complete the process," says Nishimoto. "The customer can initiate the search on line, but it's a team effort. They still rely on us to help them facilitate the purchase or sale."

Hundreds of condo units are built

Fourteen new condo buildings and nearly 4,000 new condo units were built in Honolulu - 2,924 in Kakaako alone - during the recent boom, providing plenty of inventory for plenty of buyers wanting to downsize or move closer to town.

"In 1999 and the early 2000s, we were coming out of a down cycle," says Nishimoto. "Supply was good, prices were low and then add to that interest rates were historically low, making it a great time to buy. Builders were there to take advantage of the great timing."

Median prices on Oahu appreciate

Despite a slower paced market and drops in prices since the boom days, a snapshot of the change in median prices since 1999 by neighborhood show a staggering 60- to 180-percent increase. The median price of a single-family home on Oahu has jumped from $290,000 in 1999 to $580,000 today.

Incidentally, the same cannot be said for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was performing in the 11,000-plus range in December 1999, right about where it remains today.

Homeownership is also up 2 percent on Oahu.

Some things haven't changed, according to the national statistics. NAR reports neighborhood quality, affordability, and convenience to work and school have consistently been top priorities for both past and present buyers. And eight out of 10 recently surveyed consumers believe that owning a home is an investment in their future.