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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 9, 2007

O'AHU SALES UP
$1 million houses still selling, says Prudential

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Buyers of million-dollar homes on O'ahu are bucking the general pullback in single-family home purchases so far this year, according to a Prudential Locations' analysis.

Prudential said there were 453 existing single-family homes sold for $1 million or more during the first nine months of the year, up 13.8 percent from 398 sales in the same period last year.

The rise follows a 16.5 percent drop in O'ahu million-dollar home sales in 2006 compared with 2005, and suggests that the higher end of the market may have rebounded from last year's slowdown despite continued sale declines of homes across all price ranges.

Prudential said O'ahu single-family home sales this year through September were down 6.8 percent for the entire market, and down 9.9 percent for homes that sold for under $1 million.

Scott Higashi, Prudential vice president of sales, said it appears that wealthier buyers are more insulated from mortgage market turmoil and other factors that are hurting broader home sales.

"This can be attributed to buyers' higher incomes, solid assets and cash positions," he said.

Also suggesting a rebound in the high-end market was the average number of days the homes were listed before selling — 42 days in the third quarter compared with 64 days in the same quarter last year.

One of the neighborhoods with a surge in million-dollar sales was Diamond Head, where there were 30 sales for more than $1 million this year through September, compared with 18 in the same period last year. Kahala also showed a relatively significant gain of almost 10 homes.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.