A Federal Report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency indicates that Oahu single family home prices are down only 4.7% for the first quarter of 2009 vs the 1st quarter of 2008. This differs from the local Board of Realtors reports that show Oahu homes are down roughly 8%.

Why would this report indicate different pricing than the local board of Realtors reports?

Several reasons.  This includes refinances, and even more importantly it only shows homes purchased with conforming loans or loans that were backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae, which does not include a large portion of sub-prime or jumbo loans.

Does this report have any merit to it?

When I think of the bulk of the sub-prime loans, I think of Ewa, Makakilo, Kapolei.  These areas have been hardest hit.  Jumbo loans would be properties typically in the $1.0mil price range and up, which at the current time has the largest Months of Inventory Remaining, but how many properties are being refinanced or purchased with sub-prime loans or Jumbo loans.  Jumbo loans are very difficult or costly to do right now.    If you exclude a lot of the purchases and refinances in the first quarter of 2008 from those parts of the island that are hardest hit and from parts of the slowest moving areas you sit with what is more of the bulk of the affordable price ranges and more desirable areas.  Or you have excluded some of the more problematic homes from those slower and hardest hit areas.   I don’t know that this really tells us much except that homes closer to Honolulu and in the conforming mortgage price range are doing much better than those other areas that are partially excluded.  I don’t need this report to tell me that,

What are your thoughts?