Oahu’s housing market is starting to see something that’s been missing for a while: Balance

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Oahu’s housing market could be cooling off.

But if it’s no longer hot, it’s still really warm.

That’s the takeaway from new home and condominium sales figures from the Honolulu Board of Realtors, which show the number of homes sold on Oahu in December is down 28 percent from the same month in 2017.

While fewer homes sold last month, the median sales price for a single family home on Oahu remained stable at $788,000. That’s up about 5 percent from 12 months earlier.

Darryl Macha, 2018 president of the Honolulu Board of Realtors, said that more inventory and slower sales are good news for those in the market for a home.

"We began to see a shift in the market during the last quarter of the year and as 2019 begins, it appears that trends point toward a more balanced market for buyers and sellers," he said.

"While current mortgage rates are still relatively low, they are anticipated to rise this year, so those ‘on the fence’ may want to consider purchasing sooner rather than later.”

For all of 2018, the median sales price for a single-family home on Oahu was $790,000.

That’s up from $755,000 in 2017.

The median price means half of the prices were above that figure while half were below.

August saw the highest median sales price at $810,000. The lowest was January at $772,000.

The median sales price of condos on Oahu, meanwhile, increased to $420,000 in 2018 from $405,000 the year before.

Copyright 2019 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.