Hawaii Real Estate Blog

Monday, August 4, 2008 - Pacific Business News (Honolulu)

Home prices on Oahu dipped only slightly in July as the number of sales continued to drop in the double digits.

The median price of a single family home on Oahu was $620,000, which was a 3 percent decline from the median price for July 2007 of $640,000, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

The median price of a condominium last month was $329,900, just 1.5 percent down from July 2007, when the median price for a condo unit was $335,000.

The number of sales, however, fell more than 20 percent in both categories, and the days on market has increased as well, to 52 days for a house to sell and 42 days for a condo, noted Dana Chandler, the board's president.

"Buyers may be more cautious with the current state of the economy, but so far our markets still seem to be operating normally, and Honolulu continues to provide a stable environment for both buyers and sellers," she said.

There were just 251 homes sold in July, which was down 26 percent from July of last year, when 339 sold. It's also in line with sales so far this year, which also are running about 26 percent behind the first seven months of 2007.

The number of condos sold in July was 365 units, down more than 20 percent from the same month in 2007, when 457 units sold. Year to date, sales of condos are nearly 27 percent lower than the same period in 2007.

"The number of resales in the Oahu housing market may be starting to stabilize at these reduced levels," said Harvey Shapiro, the board's research economist. "The rate of decline has softened a bit and this could signal that we're nearing the bottom of this slower market, but we need to see a few more months of data to confirm this."

Monday, August 4, 2008 - 11:35 AM HAST,Pacific Business News (Honolulu)

Hawaii Superferry's passenger count continues to grow and passengers are giving their experiences high marks, according to a recent survey.

There were more than 36,600 passengers in July, up 40 percent over June, the company said. The number of vehicles transported aboard the Alakai was up 36 percent over June to 9,200.

The company said it averaged 390 passengers and 99 vehicles per voyage between Maui and Honolulu.

"Business is good and we are very pleased with the rate at which our passenger and vehicle loads have increased these past three months," said Hawaii Superferry president and CEO Tom Fargo, in a statement. "We have operated over 400 voyages now and we're equally pleased with the feedback we've been receiving from passengers. Ninety-eight percent said they would recommend traveling with us to their family and friends and that is obviously a key reason for our growth."

Most of the riders surveyed during a study, or 92 percent, said they had a very good experience on their trip.

Hawaii Superferry said it commissioned QMark Research to conduct a study of 347 passengers from June 20 through July 29.

Almost as many, or 90 percent, said they would be very likely to use the Superferry again in the future.

Approximately 39 percent of the passengers said they were using the Superferry for vacation purposes. Meanwhile, 16 percent were visiting family and friends, 13 percent were using it to return home, 12 percent were using the interisland ferry for business, 6 percent were using it to attend an event and 6 percent said they were just trying it for fun.

For more information on the study: www.HawaiiSuperferry.com.