The first line of this article at CNBC says it all:

If you believe the media hype, there are millions of homes for sale in America and not a buyer in sight. But one person’s dead market is another’s buying opportunity.

This same thing has been said about Oahu’s housing market as people watch the national news, which has done remarkably well compared to most of the nation.  Yes, sales are down significantly, but the inventory hasn’t swelled and the median sales price is down just 3.7% from the high of the market.

What are we saying here?  It is a good time to buy.  Are we at the bottom?  Not necessarily, but how will you know when the market has recovered? When prices have already gone up and the masses have decided to get back into the market.  We call that a seller’s market.  Savvy investors are able to buy in a down period.