Honolulu Real Estate Trends For 2012 – A Honolulu Resident Realtor’s Perspective

I sent this to two clients over the past few days and thought it wise to share with you! I hope you enjoy my perspective. As for National trends, Lawrence Yun (our National Association’s chief economist) explains it best in a general way: Good Signs for the New Year. It does relate to the Hawaii market greatly, as I do see all of these items happening in our market.

Looking forward to real estate trends of 2012

My Take on Anticipated Trends in Hawaii

Apartment Buildings

Live in one, rent the rest, or just rent them all! Right now, there is very little inventory in residential as well as the apartment building arena.

Multi-Generational Homes

With rising home prices and homes becoming out of reach of “affordable” for the consumer, people are looking elsewhere in order to be able to afford to live in Hawaii. Buyers are looking for places that they can have a tenant help pay for their mortgage. I have two clients that either live for free in their home, or only pay utilities due to income from their tenants’ rent.

Another factor, is the aging parents. People are concerned for the parents who are no longer able to take care of themselves, and are moving them in with them. However, they still want to maintain their privacy and separation. A multi-generational home is a very feasible solution.

New Development Projects

With Pacifica selling most of their units, there is a series of new development projects that have come up on the market:

• Waihonua
• Waikiki Cove
• Kamehameha Schools believe they will be developing the industrial part of Kakaako with residential units within the next 5 years, but just to be on the safe side, expect it to take 10-15 years.
• There will also be a new project in Ala Moana above Nordstrom within the next 5 years.

Beautiful living room space in the one bedrooms at Waihonua; units become unrestricted January 10, 2012

There are also some small projects coming up as well. This bodes well for Oahu real estate, with the lack of inventory, it has become difficult for buyers to find homes (as you know) and buyers are compromising more on what they want in their living space (i.e. areas, space, price).

Tear Downs and Fixers

Up until now, I have seen more people looking for move-in ready. Now, I see people willing to fix their home and put in “sweat equity.” This was a major trend awhile ago, but until more recently, it hasn’t seemed like too many people were interested in putting work into their home.

Mortgage Rates

It seems that mortgage rates are on a downward movement, which means more people will be looking to purchase. Right now, only the people who can “afford” to buy are buying, which is the correction the market took due to the Mortgage Crisis in 2008. Now, more people will be able to afford to buy, but they will have to be able to pass all of the lender restrictions, which have become more and more restrictive. Those who can afford, will be able to afford a little more for the time being, so there will be more competition due to more people being able to afford certain price points, and more competition due to low interest rates and no inventory.

Other Links For You

• Historical Data for Oahu Housing Market
• Oahu Real Estate Statistics November 2011