The Yen is back, and the Japanese are coming to buy Hawaii real estate!

As a naturalized American Citizen, I love America, but I also love my roots in Japan. So I frequently watch the Japanese economy and particularly, the Yen. Recently the US Dollar has gotten hammered by the Yen, which reached a 5 year high of 113Yen/Dollar.

When that happened, my mom took all her Yen and changed it for US Dollars. I think she had several thousand dollars worth, and I was able to dig up about $100 worth. But that's besides the point.

The point is that as the Yen gains strength, it becomes cheaper and cheaper for Japanese buyers to come to Hawaii, buy homes, play golf, etc. In the 90's it was the Japanese boom and bust that drove the entire market in Oahu. But now, with a healthy inflow of mainland money, the Japanese buyers would be a great addition to our market. They've been pretty quiet for the last few years (enduring a 10year recession didn't help) but now with the Yen so strong, those that have money are coming back to our market.

What does this mean? In the end, it means the only thing it can mean - the price of Hawaii Real Estate is bound to go up even more. The Japanese are an incredibly powerful economic force in Hawaii tourism, and in the past, they made the price of homes in Oahu go crazy. This time it's more likely that they will add a much smaller push to the market, but our market is so small, that a small push equals a huge gain in prices.

Watch out - now that the Fed has lowered rated .50%, it's very likely that the dollar will do even worse against the Yen, making the power of Japanese buyers greater and greater.