HONOLULU (KHON2) — For the second consecutive month, home prices on Oahu have dropped — only by a few percentage points. Even though the housing prices are the most expensive in the country, experts say it’s still a good time to make a move.
A home in Makiki Heights was just put up for sale. It’s listed for $4.3 million, five bedrooms, three full baths, fully renovated with views Diamond Head to the airport.
“I don’t anticpate it necessarily flying off the shelves but it is a fantastic home with a lot of bells and whistles,” Trevor Benn, Honolulu Board of Realtors president.
According to the latest statistics from the Honolulu Board of Realtors, the median sales price for single family homes dropped this July by nearly 6% compared to the same time last year. The number of sales also dropped by more than 7%. Realtors say one month does not make or break the market.
“If you look at historically, at how Hawaii real estate moves, it does appreciate at about 5% a year but it’s not linear,” Benn said. “It doesn’t just move 5% a year. It goes up, then it goes flat, and it goes up.”
Since Oahu is currently in that flat part of the cycle, those in the industry say now is the time to make a move.
“Think it’s a phenominal opportunity for buyers to buy something where the price hasnt risen in three years, hasn’t changed, maybe even has gone down,” Benn said.
“For folks, buyers and sellers, if you’ve been on the sidelines I would get in now before rates drop more because as rates drop we have more competition,” said Mike Arrieta, a mortgage loan broker.
Some say there is a chance of that happening.
“Fannie Mae is expecting mortgage rates to get to 6.1% by the end of this year,” Arrieta said. “Goldman Sachs a lot of other pundits market experts are expecting three fed rate cuts September, October, December. We were hoping for for one and then two and now we’re looking at potentially even three.”
As for the rest of the year, Benn predicts that the market will stay relatively flat. But if interest rates drop like some people do predict, then buckle up.
“If we get to a five, five-point-five interest rate, then I think the market goes bananas again,” Benn said. “I think it’s a great time to get in the house that you want, and then you sorta do a rate watching.”
“A lot of good speculation green flags pointing towards lower rates more affordability and just helping bridge that gap in home ownership,” Arrieta said.