Hawaii real estate values jump up in March

The Honolulu board of Realtors released the March statistics for Oahu home sales and the numbers this month were quite surprising to everyone. Many of us expected the numbers to be lower than they were, as nationwide housing seemed to be in a slump.

However, the median price of Oahu homes sold in March was $628k, which was a jump of $29k in one month. The Condo median price was $329,300.

In February only 163 homes sold on Oahu, but in March 282 homes closed, which is a massive increase, and may be a sign that the slow down is at an end. With nearly 400 condos sold, we are looking great for 2008. While the number of homes sold is definitely lower, with 23% less sales island wide, prices are not only strong but going up in many areas.

Homes are taking 47 days to sell in Oahu, while condos take only 39 days. That means there is not a very quick market here compared to other areas.

17 homes sold in Kapahulu and Diamond Head, with a median price of $677,500, which is down significantly from last year in price and number of sales. However, in popular Hawaii Kai, the median price was $840k, which is up from last year's $817,500.

In Hawaii Kai, the number of homes actually went up to 25, from 20 last year at the same time. However, the numbers look the opposite in Kailua, where home sales were down by 6 sales, and prices were down about 5.3%.

The worst area of the island for prices was Kapahulu, and hte best area was the North Shore, which is only because some really big properties sold recently.

What was more encouraging was that the number of single family homes for sale on Oahu declined to 1919, while condo inventory was just a little higher, at 2581 in March, compared to 2476 in February.