Real Estate Report - December 2023

O'ahu Market Update

The holiday season brings us together and cultivates joy and hope for the future. Similarly, the Hawai'i real estate market is showing signs of hope and joy for buyers and sellers in different ways.

For example, on average, buyers who purchased homes last month enjoyed a discount of 2.9% as compared to the list price. Condo and townhome buyers enjoyed a discount of 2% last month. Buyers were also able to take their time shopping for a home because the median days on market for those properties that sold were 29 days for homes and 23 days for condos. A huge contrast compared to last year, 11 and 12 days (homes and condos), and two years ago, which was only 9 and 11 (condos and homes).

Sellers weren’t completely left out. The average price of a home that sold last month increased by 3.4% to $1,434,999 and the average price for a condo/townhome increased by 13.8% to $676,626. You may be wondering how prices could rise and buyers still get a discount on the listing price as mentioned above. It is all in the negotiation. Sellers may price their property higher than the market value and then negotiate with the buyer with the willingness to come down on their price.

A great measure to determine whether it is a buyer leveraged market or a seller leveraged market is the months of inventory. Last month, at the current rate of sales, if there were no other properties coming on the market for sale, homes would be sold out in 3.1 months and condos in 3.4 months. A balanced market is somewhere between 3 and 6 months. Therefore, now is the time for both seller and buyer to negotiate. Happy Holidays. Happy House Hunting!