Home median price at record $481,800
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
The median price for a previously owned single-family home on O'ahu was nearly $82,000 more last month than in January, a stunning six-month surge to a record $481,800.
Condominium prices also hit a record high. Rising prices led more homeowners to put their property on the market.
"As we come into summer months, residential sales are historically strong," said Harvey Shapiro, research economist for the Honolulu Board of Realtors, which released the statistics yesterday.
The $481,800 single-family home median, which means half the homes sold for more and half for less, was up from $445,000 in May, and $388,500 in June 2003. In January the median was $400,000. In all 434 single-family homes sold, up 6 percent from 410 in June 2003.
Condo prices last month reached a median of $210,000, breaking a 14-year-old record of $208,000 set in October 1990.
Last month's median condo price was up $15,000 from $195,000 in May, and compared with $179,500 in June 2003 and $187,000 in January. Condo sales last month totaled 682, up 27 percent from 537 in June 2003.
Among sellers cashing in on rising equity was Marc Paskin, who sold an oceanfront five-bedroom, five-bath house in Lanikai for $5.45 million, five years after paying $2.8 million.
The sale was the second-highest price for a home sold on O'ahu this year, according to property records. But Paskin, who was a radio disc jockey and telephone directory sales representative on the Island in the 1970s, said Southern California investors view Hawai'i homes as a bargain compared with prices in places like Malibu, La Jolla and Del Mar.
According to the National Association of Realtors, Honolulu's median single-family home price of $420,000 during the first quarter of this year ranked fourth costliest among 139 metropolitan areas. Higher median prices were all in California (San Diego at $483,000, Orange County at $572,500 and San Francisco at $597,300).
Paskin said his former Lanikai house probably could have sold for $15 million to $20 million if it were in Laguna Beach. But he also expects prices in Hawai'i to continue rising.
"I told the guy who bought the house, 'Someday I'm going to kick myself,' " he said.
"In five years or 10 years I believe it'll be worth $10 million, $15 million. I think the appreciation (on O'ahu) is just beginning to heat up."
Mary Begier, president of the local Realtor board, said for now low interest rates are keeping the majority of home prices affordable for residents.
"Even with the limited availability of properties, the ability to purchase these properties by families with moderate incomes is very good," she said.
The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage is up almost 1 percentage point since March to about 6.2 percent. Shapiro said home-buying demand probably will continue to grow from year-ago levels unless mortgage rates rise above 7 percent, which some economists predict may happen by late next year.
Meanwhile, rising home values are spurring more homeowners to list their property for sale, according to Shapiro, who said inventory has increased for a second month in a row following fairly consistent monthly decreases during the past several years.
At the end of last month there were 1,036 single-family homes for sale and 1,450 condos, up from a low in April of 784 single-family homes and 1,034 condos.
For the first half of the year, sales volume is up 9 percent for single-family homes and 18 percent for condos, with nearly 6,000 combined sales for a total value of $2.11 billion, which was up 39 percent from $1.52 billion during the same period last year.
The Realtor association statistics are for completed sales.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
