New-home sales down again

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i home builders had fewer new homes to offer in March and were listing them at higher prices, which led to a drop in the number of new homes sold for the second-consecutive month.

Residential developers signed 147 sales contracts in March, a 4 percent dip compared with the 153 signed during the same month a year earlier, according to data compiled by research consultant Ricky Cassiday for Prudential Locations.

The number of purchases completed in March also was down, to 109, or 11 percent, from 123 in March 2001.

The average price, at $330,682, was $57,718 more than it was in March 2001, a 21 percent difference.

Bruce Barrett, sales and marketing vice president for Castle & Cooke Hawai'i, the state's largest home developer, said the company didn't have enough inventory to satisfy buyers in March, which he believes would have been better had more properties been available.

Castle & Cooke signed 38 sales contracts for the month, compared with 62 in March 2001, a more than one-third decline. The 35 purchases completed in March were down from 50 in March 2001.

"The market is still strong," Barrett said, noting an increase in business in April and his company's release of more product to satisfy demand.

Cassiday, who noted that interest rates were still attractive at below 7 percent in March, agreed that inventory was the kink in March new-home sales. "It's a real soft down," he said.

At Haseko Homes, sales were higher in March, but Vicki Gaynor, company vice president, said inventory has been getting low relative to consumer demand.

"Slowly, the inventory is dwindling," she said. "It is just going to make it a little more difficult for buyers to find exactly what they're looking for."

Gaynor said Haseko plans to start a new subdivision at its master-planned Ocean Pointe development in 'Ewa by the end of the summer to counter the soft home supply.

"We're seeing qualified buyers who are coming in to look at the homes ... I don't see any change in the next few months."

For the first three months of the year, there were 400 sales, compared with 408 during last year's first quarter. Completed purchases, which typically trail sales contracts by two or three months, were higher for the most recent quarter at 324, compared with 281 in the year-ago quarter. The average price was $334,567 in the quarter, up $64,372 for the same period a year ago.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.