December 2006 residential resales statistics

Median prices for single-family and condominiums rose slightly in December according to resales figures released today by the Honolulu Board of REALTORS®. According to the analysis conducted by the Board, using data collected from its computerized Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system, the statistics are:

During December, sales of 346 single-family homes and 458 condominiums were reported through the Board’s MLS, an increase in sales of 9.8 percent for single-family homes and a decrease in unit sales of 16 percent for condominiums, compared to the same month in 2005. The median price paid in December for a single-family home was $613,500 and $315,000 for a condominium. For the 2006 full year, sales volume is down by 12.5 percent for single-family homes and 20.2 percent for condominiums, while the median prices for the twelve months of 2006 were $630,000 and $310,000, respectively, increases of 6.8 percent and 15.2 percent over the same time period in 2005. Total dollar sales volume for the year was $5.466 billion, a decrease of 8.8 percent, or $527 million, compared to the $5.993 billion generated in the housing market in the same time period in 2005.

“We ended 2006 with a surge in single-family home sales in December, surpassing what we saw last year,” said Berton Hamamoto, the newly elected president of the Honolulu Board of REALTORS®. “Our residential housing markets continue to stabilize with steady or slightly rising prices combined with an increasing number of days on market. We expect that the market will maintain this trend into 2007.”

“Preliminary total sales figures for 2006 are 4,041 single-family homes and 6,380 condominiums, an overall decline of about 17 percent from the record number of sales in 2005,” added Harvey Shapiro, research economist at the Honolulu Board of REALTORS®. “Annual median sales prices rose 6.8 percent to $630,000 for single-family dwellings and we had a 15.2 percent increase for condominiums to $310,000. While one big question mark for the housing market in 2007 is how the Federal Reserve will change interest rates, we still expect to see a healthy housing market in the coming year.”

(This report reflects information about resales of existing properties only and does not include new home sales. All of the MLS information is compiled from sales reported during the cited months; this data is known only after closing of escrow. The time delay between the signing of a sales contract and the closing of escrow is usually between one and three months.)