Hawaii foreclosures up in August; big spike on Kauai

September 14th, 2008 11:58 AM

Foreclosure filings in Hawaii soared more than 130 percent in August when compared to the same month in 2007, led by a sharp increase in filings on Kauai.

Still, the actual number of filings remains relatively low. There were 336 foreclosure filings, up from 145 in August 2007.

In Hawaii last month, there was one foreclosure for every 1,488 households, according to the monthly report from California-based RealtyTrac released Friday. The state ranked 34th among the states and the District of Columbia.

Nationally, foreclosure filings were up 27 percent in August compared to August 2007. Foreclosure filings were reported on 30,879 properties last month, or one in every 416 households.

That figure was a 12 percent increase over July, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosure filings include default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions.

Hawaii’s August numbers were up 47 percent from July, when there were 229 filings, or one in every 2,183 housing units.

Kauai saw the greatest increase from July to August — there were 138 filings on the Garden Island last month, a 700 percent increase from the 17 filings in July. That pushed Kauai’s foreclosure rate to one in every 205 households up from one in every 1,665 households.

What drove the increase was apparently the foreclosure on 100 condominium units within the Kauai Beach Resort, owned by developer Brian Anderson. Foreclosures include every kind of property, from primary residence to a vacation condominium or a time share

Hawaii County saw a very slight bump from July to August, with 28 filings compared to 26 in July.

Honolulu County saw a similar bump down, to 106 filings in August, down from 108 filings in July.

There were 64 filings in Maui County in August, down from 78 in July.

Nevada continued to post the nation’s highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 91 households receiving foreclosure filings, followed by California and Arizona. The three states accounted for more than half of the nation’s foreclosure activity, RealtyTrac said.

“In August the total number of U.S. properties that received foreclosure filings as well as the national foreclosure rate were both the highest we’ve seen in any month since we began issuing our report in January 2005; however, the annual increase of 27 percent was actually substantially lower than in previous months this year, when it was hovering around 50 to 65 percent,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “The lower annual percentage increase this month is due to a big spike in activity last August — particularly in default activity.”

Hawaii hotel occupancy falls 10 points to 59%

September 14th, 2008 11:59 AM

Hawaii statewide hotel room occupancy plummeted 10 percentage points to 58.8 percent for the week ending Sept. 6.

Room rates also fell to an average of $188 a night, down 0.9 percent as compared with the same week last year.

Occupancy and rates for the four major Hawaiian islands were as follows:

• Oahu occupancy fell 5.6 percentage points to 64.8 percent, while room rates slid 2.2 percent to $171;

• Maui occupancy plunged 17.2 percentage points to 52.8 percent, while room rates increased 7 percent to $244;

• Kauai occupancy dropped 9.9 percentage points to 64.8 percent, while room rates inched up 1.3 percent to $197; and

• Big Island occupancy declined 12.3 percentage points to 45 percent, while room rates fell 12.4 percent to $153.

U.S. hotel occupancy dipped 4.3 percentage points to 54.3 percent, while room rates went up 1.2 percent to $100.

The weekly Hawaii hotel industry snapshot is surveyed by Hospitality Advisors and Smith Travel Research.

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