Hawaii Real Estate Blog

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - July 12, 2007

The average cost of closing a $200,000 mortgage transaction in Hawaii fell to $3,008 this year, down 13.3 percent from the year earlier, but still above the national average of $2,736, according to Bankrate.

The drop nestled Hawaii into place as the state with the sixth-highest closing costs, down from third last year.

New York led the ranking with closing costs of $3,830, followed by Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Indiana boasted the lowest closing costs, with a $200,000 loan generating $2,339 in fees.

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - July 12, 2007

The Chinatown Special Historic District in downtown Honolulu has received a federal grant of $150,000 from a White House initiative called Preserve America Community -- the first such award given in Hawaii.

It will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the City & County of Honolulu.

The initiative was established by First Lady Laura Bush and was developed in conjunction with the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies.

The application for Chinatown's designation as a Preserve America Community Neighborhood was supported by Mayor Mufi Hannemann's administration, Councilman Rod Tam, and the Historic Hawaii Foundation.

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 11:26 AM HAST Monday, July 16, 2007

Median prices of housing on Oahu increased during the second quarter of this year, despite a drop in the number of sales, the Honolulu Board of Realtors said Monday.

The median price of a single-family home during the second quarter was $665,000, which was 7.3 percent higher than the first quarter median price of $620,000, and a 3.9 percent boost over the second quarter of 2006, when the median price was $640,000.

The number of single-family homes sold during the second quarter, however, was 1,037, down 3.4 percent from the same period the year before, when 1,074 homes sold.

Second quarter condominium prices also rose, the board said. The median price of an Oahu condo last quarter was $328,000, a 2.5 percent increase over the first quarter median price of $320,000, and 7.5 percent higher than the second quarter of last year, when the median price was $305,000.

Sales of condos during the second quarter fell 11.6 percent from the year before. There were 1,617 units sold during the second quarter of this year, down from 1,830 during the same quarter in 2006.

Despite declining sales, the total dollar volume for the market slipped only slightly. The total dollar volume of sales during the second quarter was $1.455 billion, which was $14 million, or 0.9 percent, less than the second quarter of 2006, which recorded $1.469 billion in sales.

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 6:26 AM HAST Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Japan Travel Bureau says bookings from Japan to Hawaii are up 3.9 percent for the summer vacation period July 15-Aug. 31.

More than 213,000 Japanese are planning a trip to Hawaii, some 8,000 more than traveled here during summer 2006.

JTB bases its projection on surveys of 1,200 Japanese respondents, airline reservations, and travel industry trends. Most Japanese still travel in tours and JTB books more tours than any other Japanese travel agency.

Hawaii's projected increase in Japanese visitors for the next month and a half trailed only Indonesia and China as the most popular destinations. Japanese travel to the U.S. Mainland, however, will be down 0.5 percent from summer 2006, JTB says.

In all, JTB says outbound travelers from Japan will exceed 2.5 million for the first time in six years. The increase in travel is attributed to a recovering economy and an increase in salary bonuses.

Hawaii Tourism Japan, meanwhile, reported Monday that overall outbound Japanese travel to all destinations worldwide ran to 1.3 million visitors in May, down almost 6 percent from the same month last year.

The Japanese National Tourist Organization said travel to Hawaii in May was 10 percent from May 2006 but travel to China was up 11 percent. Travel was down 9 percent to Canada, down 9 percent to Guam, and down 6 percent to the U.S. Mainland.

Japanese travel was up 24 percent to Macau and up 27 percent to Bali while down 3 percent to Korea and down fractionally to Taiwan.

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 2:29 PM HAST Tuesday, July 17, 2007

In the wake of warnings to consumers about adjustable interest rates and the settlement of a multistate predatory lending lawsuit, the state has advice for mortgage brokers and lenders who market and sell certain adjustable-rate mortgage products.

"These best practices address the concerns we have identified in the subprime mortgage markets," said Nick Griffin, commissioner for the Hawaii Division of Financial Institutions. "We believe a coordinated effort among federal and state regulatory agencies is necessary to provide consistent and effective oversight of subprime lending and overall supervision of the mortgage industry."

The so-called best practices were developed by banking, mortgage and credit union organizations in response to a federal statement on subprime lending. They are:

• Providers should ensure that they do not engage in predatory lending practices.
• Communications with consumers, including advertisements, oral statements and promotional materials, should provide clear and balanced information about the relative benefits and risks of the products.
• Information provided to consumers should clearly explain the risk of payment shock and the ramifications of prepayment penalties, balloon payments and the lack of escrow for taxes and insurance, as necessary.
• Providers should verify and document the borrower's income (both source and amount), assets and liabilities.