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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, November 24, 2007

Isle real estate still healthy

Advertiser staff

Hawai'i's real estate market fared better than most other states during the third quarter, with sales activity of existing homes slipping less than in 46 other states and the District of Columbia, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.

The figures show Hawai'i real estate transactions as measured by annualized third-quarter sales rates fell by 1.4 percent during the July-to-September period compared to a year earlier. There were about 28,000 transactions on a seasonally adjusted annual rate basis during the third quarter compared with 28,400 a year earlier.

Hawai'i's decline compared with a 13.7 percent decline nationally. The survey ranked 48 states (Idaho and New Hampshire data wasn't available) and showed home sales increased during the period in Vermont and North Dakota.

At the other end of the spectrum, Nevada ranked as having the poorest market in terms of sales activity. Its transactions were off 35 percent on an annualized basis during the third quarter. Florida and Arizona also had declines above 30 percent.

Other data released on the National Association of Realtors' Web site included median prices for sales of existing single-family dwellings and condominiums in metropolitan areas.

Honolulu ranked 14th in terms of price appreciation of condominiums when comparing the third-quarter median price against those a year earlier. The figures show the median price rose 4.8 percent to $330,000. In that respect, Honolulu's price was fifth-highest out of the 59 markets measured.

Honolulu was one of the 93 of 150 areas where the Realtors' association found prices rose for single-family homes during the quarter. Honolulu's median price was up 2.3 percent to $649,900.

That compared with the national median price of $220,000, which was down 2 percent from a year earlier.

Honolulu's median single-family home price was fourth-highest of those measured. The highest median price was in the San Jose-Santa Clara, Calif., area, where the median price was $852,500.

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