Mortgage rates continue to be at record-breaking lows and the number of recent sales last month shows that buyers have been, and continue to be, very active. Hawaii Central reported home sales on Oahu are up by 19% year over year. With the coronavirus stirring up concerns in the national economy, we will see if there are any impacts on the real estate market in the next coming months. In a recent Star Advertiser article, Carl Bonham, the executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization stated that he “anticipates that homebuyers will continue to drive steady activity as they take advantage of historically low interest rates.” He believes that while the interest rate cuts have supported Oahu real estate, it is still too early to gauge the overall impact given the uncertainty of the coronavirus situation and the economy. “Homes are becoming quite a bit more affordable, but potentially more people will be losing their jobs,” Bonham said. “It’s a tough call. The impact depends on how long the spread of the coronavirus goes on. The longer the spread, the more severe it is for the economy. Obviously, there’s a point where if the job losses are bad enough, the low mortgage rates won’t offset it.”

Jumping into the Oahu real estate statistics for February…247 homes were sold last month, with over half of the amount of homes sold were in the $600,000 – $899,000 range. The median sales price for single family homes was a healthy $765,000, which is down slightly from last February when the median sales price was $789,000. This points to the fact that while more homes were sold, the homes sold were on average sold at a lower price than last year.

For condos, the number of units sold in February 2020 was down by 1.6% year over year with a total of 316 units sold. While number of units was down slightly, the median sales price for homes increased by 3.6% jumping from $415,000 in February 2019 to $430,000 in February 2020. Hawaii Central reports that while prices did increase, more condos were sold below the original asking price when compared to February 2019 – jumping from 68% to more than 75%).

If you have more questions on the state of the Oahu Real Estate Market or are ready to talk to a Realtor, our team is ready to hear from you!