I have mentioned it before, and might as well again.  We have seen more foreign investors entering the real estate market here in Hawaii recently.  Need a reason why?  Just look at our currency.  Dollar hits 3 year low against the Yen. 

Bill would revamp property tax hikes.  Should we change the property tax structure?    The bill being proposed would change how property taxes are computed.

Property taxes in Honolulu would adjust each year based on inflation instead of assessed value under a bill the City Council is scheduled to consider today.

The bill is intended to make property taxes more manageable and to avoid tremendous spikes caused by surges in the real-estate market. Fixed-income households, the elderly and others have difficulty adjusting to sudden increases in property tax assessments.

My thoughts: Sure, change them now after we have already had a large run-up in taxes from the recent years appreciation cycle.  Change while they are at thier highest point as to assure they aren’t reduced with a slowdown in the market.  Since inflation numbers are increasing and property prices aren’t this is a great way to make sure the property taxes don’t decrease of the next few years.  Property taxes are our least concern here in Hawaii.  They are some of the lowest in the country in comparison to value of the home.  Want to lower taxes, focus on the income tax which is one of the higher in the country.

Here are another set of market stats for Oahu’s housing market.  Definitely some interesting info here.  To begin with, the number of sales this month are off significantly, but the sales prices are holding steady.  The number of new listings that have come on the market have also declined.  The market usually speeds up at this time of the year, both with new listings and with the number of transactions.  Part of the problem may be a lack of inventory to choose from, as Buyer’s are willing to wait for that right property to come available.  I would tend to believe the major factor in the lack of sales is due to all of the negative economic news on the mainland, that makes people hesitant.  The stock market got kicked in the teeth this week, thus helping improve interest rates.

Feel free to check out these articles from the local newspapers: Oahu Home Sales Slow from the Honolulu Star Bulletin and Sales Drop By 40%, Prices Relatively Stable from the Honolulu Advertiser.  Read Harvey Shapiro’s Febuary Stats Summary as well. View this months market stats by clicking HERE.

It’s clear that prices are still holding up,” Shapiro said. “The single-family home price dropped below 2005 levels, but it was only a thousand below. We are much more stable than many markets on the mainland. Hawaii is still a good place to invest.

To access all past market stats and quarterly market stats, visit The Resource Center. 

Lets look at the numbers:

On page 3 of 20, the year to date number of sales island wide for SFH’s is down 27% and the year to date number of sales for condos is down 21.3%.  The median price of a SFH is down 1.6% and for condos is up 3.1%.

On page 4 of 20 the number of sales for this past month was down significantly for SFH’s to 163 homes sold and for condos remained roughly the same as last month.

On page 6 of 20 the median sales price this month for SFH’s was $599,000, essentially flat.  For condos the median sales price was up to $335,000.

On page 7 of 20 shows the median number of Days-On-Market (DOM) that a property is listed for before going into escrow.  For SFH’s that number stayed roughly the same at 59 days and increased for condos to 50 days.

On page 11 of 20 the number of new listings brought onto the market for SFH’s dropped by almost 100 to 565 and for condos dropped to 787.

On page 14 of 20 the inventory increased slightly for both SFH’s and condos.

On page 18 of 20 the months of inventory remaining (How long it will take to sell all of the homes currently for sale on the market, assuming we don’t bring anymore on the market) increased to 8.4 months for SFH’s and 7.6 for condos. 

Page 19 of 20 breaks down the months of inventory remaining based on the type of property, location on the island, and price range.

Lets see how the next few months pan out.

For the latest article from my blog visit High Cost Mortgages Just Got Cheaper.

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Want to get the most for your money when buying that next house?  Well, now may be the time.  Your comfort with your mortgage payment is typically what is the driving factor in how much you will pay for a home.  

If you get a conforming loan (Loan amount under $625,500) you can obtain some of the most favorable interest rates available.  If you go above this amount your loan falls into the category of a Jumbo Loan, which is considered a much riskier loan and your interest rate is much higher (can be as much as 1% higher).

Well:

Mortgage costs just got cheaper for buyers in high-cost areas. (Great Article) The size of loans that can be guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae was raised today by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. The new, higher loan limits will stay in effect through the end of the year, allowing the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), to buy much higher-priced mortgages in some areas of the country.

Honolulu’s new conforming loan amount might be $729,750, however, it is believed that Hawaii will see it’s conforming loan amount at just above $1,000,000.  that decision will be made by April 1st. 

This is slated to last for a year only.  So, let’s say you bought or refinanced within the next year and are able to get a $1,000,000 loan at 6%, your payment would be $5,995.51.  If you wait to buy or refinance until the new conforming loan amount expires and it reverts back to a Jumbo Loan, that same $1,000,000 mortgage then has a 7% interest rate (hypothetical of course) and a mortgage payment of $6,653.02, for a grand total difference of $657.51 a month and $7890.12 a year.  That is more than a nice vacation!