June’s market stats for Oahu are out.  So what is going on in the market?

Well if you read the Honolulu Advertiser then, June Oahu Median Home Price falls 8.8% to $625,000.  (When did the Honolulu Advertiser report the news like Fox News?)  Harvey Shapiro says, Housing Prices Hold in June.  The Pacific Business News writes, Oahu Home Sales, Prices Fell In June.

So what is the story?

For the entire first half of this year, the median prices have been $629,000 and $330,000, respectively. The median price of a single-family home has decreased by 2.5%, but the condominium price has increased since the same time period a year ago by 1.5%.

You can view the entire June Market Stats here.  To view all past monthly and quarterly market stats go to the Resource Center.

On page 3 of 20 are the Year-To-Date figures.  These figures are much more accurate then comparing a single month this year to the same single month last year. The number of sales for SFH’s is down 25.7% Y-T-D and for condos is down 27.5% Y-T-D.  The median sales price for a SFH is down 2.9% to $629,000 and for condos is up 1.5% to $330,000.

*Several economist predicted our market will balance out and stay steady at 8,000 units sold.  That is the number we are anticipated to hit this year for total number of sales down from our peak of 13,000 units.

on page 18 of 20 we see the Months of Inventory Remaining.  This gives us an indication of the strength or weakness of a market and if it is a buyers or sellers market.  According to the National Association or Realtors, a balanced market is 6-7 months of inventory.   The Months of Inventory Remaining for SFH’s in June was 8.3 and for condos was 7.0.  A balanced market for condos and a slight buyers market for SFH’s.

The $1.0 million plus properties are the highest with 15 months of inventory on the market currently.

Everything in Dubai is extravagant.  I guess it would only be fitting that Donald Trump has to be in the middle of it.

His new 62 story Trump International Hotel and Tower on Palm Island  (This is one heck of a website) should be recording breaking.  The penthouse is expected to be sold for $790 million.  Yes that’s right, $790 million.

I wonder if they will do a lay-away program?

the Tower will be the centerpiece of the 560 hectare Palm Jumeirah which is among the world’s largest man-made islands (the nearby The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira the only bigger ones). To put the scale of this construction in perspective, the amount of sand and rock used is enough to build a two meter high, half meter wide wall that would circle the globe three times!

Read:

Hawaii ranked 4th in growth of personal income for the first quarter, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.Hawaii’s personal income grew 1.6 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 to $52 billion.

As of January 1, 2010, building permitswill not be issued for homes that do not have solar water heaters.   Is this a good move?

Is the real estate market coming to life on the mainland?  Maybe, maybe not.  One things for sure, there are a few signs of life in hard hit areas of the country.

I said last month, that one of the first signs of a recovery in real estate is when the number of sales increase.  We saw that last month, but it was too early to say there could be light at the end of the tunnel.  Now this month, we see California Sales Up 18%, National Home Sales Increased 2% in May, and Pending Home Sales Up 6.3%.

Now, I am not saying all is rosy in the housing market, (so don’t bash me yet) but for prices to level out on the mainland, the demand side must begin to increase and not decrease.  Is this what is happening?  It may take some time to get there.

Bargain hunters have entered the market en masse, especially in areas that have experienced double-digit price declines, but it’s unclear if they are investors or owner-occupants.

Home buyers are starting to get off the fence and into the market, drawn by drops in home prices in many areas and armed with greater access to affordable mortgages.

What you’re seeing in some of the hardest hit markets, like California and Florida, is that Americans still love bargains.

In the American Express commercial, Jerry Seinfeld put the nossel into his car’s gas tank and began to pull the handle to fill his tank up as he screamed out, “Release the Hounds!” That statement reminds me of the anticipation of the wave of Chinese toursit expected to come visit the U.S. in the upcoming years.  In a sign of things to come, China has opened up vacation package tours to the U.S.  Is this the beginning stage of the boom to be?  The beginning to “Release the Hounds?”  The first arrivals are already here as isles welcome the influx of tourist.

Chinese tour groups left for Hawai’i and other places in the U.S. yesterday under a new agreement that the American travel industry hopes will bring in billions of dollars.

An initial group of more than 200 tourists was flying in from the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for a 12-day visit that will take them to destinations such as Hawai’i, New York, Washington and Los Angeles. The trips cost about $4,000 each.

Chinese with visas have long been permitted to travel to the U.S. but the agreement signed last December considerably eased the way by conferring China’s “approved destination status” on this country.

Chinese travelers on average spend upward of $6,000 per visit to the U.S. — more than residents of any other nation — according to U.S. Commerce Department calculations.

Some of those who have had already arrived and have had a chance to do some sightseeing say they believe Hawai’i will become a major tourist destination for Chinese travelers.

I know it is just a start but changes seem to be occurring monthly with regards to an ease in visiting restrictions.  Ultimately the economic upside of this will prevail.

The first group to arrivewill be this week and will be greeted by Gov. Linda Lingle.  FHB changes to accept China Union Pay bankcard.

Honolulu is the #1 city to live in in the U.S. and the 12th best in the world.  I must admit, I agree with this. (slight-bias)  This would explain why I became a  ”Permanent Tourist”. 

I originally came to Hawaii as a favor to a friend for 3 months after graduating college with a round-trip ticket in hand and the full intention of leaving after 3 months.  A few thousand waves later and I am still here.

I just celebrated my 9th year here and never used that return trip ticket.  It is framed on my wall now. 

Want a new stove that cooks faster, is safer and more efficient than anything before?

Magnetic induction may just be the next “thing” to arrive.  I am sure most of us would have to give it some time before it is affordable enough to make sense.

An induction cooktop looks a lot like an electric smoothtop, but what goes on beneath the surface is very different…Put a pot made of a magnetic material - like iron or steel - onto that field and the energy gets transferred to it in the form of heat. Nothing else gets hot, only the pot, and you can adjust the field and the heat with the knob, just as with your old stove.

Magnetic Induction offers several advantages over gas and electric.

The rankings are out for the World’s Best Places to Live. 

Mercer Consulting’s annual roundup of the global cities with the best quality of life is here, and Zurich once again comes out on top. The best place in the U.S.? Honolulu at No. 28.

This along with Best Life Magazine’s vote of Honolulu as the #1 City To Raise A Family and The Housing Predictors voted Honolulu as the Hottest Real Estate Market in 2008.

Can you say, ”Tri-fect-a!”  Not bad for this year.

Question: I recently went to several new development projects to look at the home options they have and didn’t want to bother my Realtor.  The next time I was out with my Realtor looking at homes I let her know this.  She didn’t seem pleased for some reason.  My wife and I were trying to decide to purchase in the new development or outside of it.  After that day we never heard from our Realtor again.  Did we do something wrong?

Answer: No, you didn’t do anything wrong, but it sounds like your agent didn’t take the time to fully explain the real estate process, and unrightfully bailed on you.

When it comes to new development projects (new condo high-rises, new home subdivisions, Resort developments) on Oahu, the developers will pay a commission to your agent IF you are accompanied by your Agent on your first visit to the project and you register at that time with your agent. It doesn’t cost you any more money to do so, and there is a benefit: Representation, or someone to look after your best interest, and the hundreds of pages of documents that go along with a development.  Because the amount of paperwork to comb over from development projects can be a daunting task, most buyers don’t look through the papers thoroughly.  The free representation is, by far, worth it.

These developments attempt to get you to come to their developments where they can register you in their database.  Once you have visited the development on your own and are in their database the seller/developer will no longer pay an independent agent, like myself, to represent your interests.  Just remember when you work with an in-house resort/development agent, they do not have your best interest at hand, and they have a fiduciary relationship to represent the seller exclusively.

Please contact your Realtor before walking into or calling a sales office at any development project if you want independent representation without additional cost to you.  Also, read the developers fine print addition:

WARNING: If your initial contact with a developer’s sales team is on your own, in-person, you will, without your consent, lose your right to independent buyer representation paid for by the Seller/Developer at no additional cost to you.

Since Agents don’t get paid a dime for showing homes — only for selling them, I can only assume that your Realtor lost motivation to work hard in finding you a home, since he/she felt they may be doing pro-bono work if you decided to buy in the development project and was too afraid to mention that he could represent you on the new development project at an additional cost to you (You pay your Realtor directly in addition to the purchase price of your new home for representation).  Anyhow, this could have been avoided with proper communication.