November Hawaii home sales stats are out

The monthly Oahu home sales statistics were released this week, and the numbers were mixed. The total number of sales for the entire island of Oahu are down 11.3%, and the median price was back to $610k, after the high of $685k back in June. However, I should note that last January, the median price was $600k, and all of this year we have been up and down around this price.

The most interesting number to me is the number of days on market. It takes 53 days for the Hawaii average home to sell, and only 42 days to sell a condo. That is very fast! Around the rest of the country it's taking more like 6 months.

With 245 single family homes sold in Oahu in November, there is still a very good number of transactions. The one place that seems to be slowing rapidly is the North Shore.

East Oahu median prices are down about 7.1% since last year, while overall Oahu is up about 6.3%. So as I said, the numbers are mixed. Also, the number of homes on the market has actually dropped since last month, which was surprising. Usually in a slowing market the inventory racks up pretty quickly, but last month the inventory was 1973, while November 30th we only had 1952 homes for sale in Oahu.

For the whole island of Oahu, there were 7.4months of single family home inventory remaining.

The bottom line is that Oahu real estate remains strong, even while the rest of the country is experiencing massive slow downs and price reductions.

For me personally, 2007 has been my biggest year ever, which just shows that it's not the market, it's what you make of the market.

The Canadian dollar is up and the US dollar is down everywhere! Canadians buying Oahu real estate!

Today I met with some Canadians who are here enjoying our beautiful winter (read: rainy but 75deg). They informed me that the Canadian dollar has risen about 20% on the US dollar over the last year or so!

WOW! Imagine being able to buy Oahu real estate at a 20% discount! That is exactly what has happened for people in Canada. Last year my clients visited and looked at some nice condos, and even thought about buying back then, when the Canadian dollar bought only 85 cents of the US dollar. Today it's trading around 99cents, while just 2 weeks ago it was trading at $1.09.

The weaker dollar is GREAT news for Hawaii real estate, because it means that international buyers are flocking to Hawaii to buy their dream home at a huge discount. In fact, just in the condo building we were looking at, a few Canadians are currently buying a condo.

While the rest of the US mainland real estate market has suffered, the weaker dollar means that Canadians, Australians, and other internationals are going to be supporting our market here with their stronger currency. While last year only a tiny percentage of buyers were international, I would think that in 2008 the number of international buyers will rise exponentially.

So thanks to Bernanke's rate cut, our dollar is weaker and the real estate market is stronger! If you've been waiting for the right time to buy Oahu real estate, now is the time!