Oahu Market Report – August 2020

We’re pleased to share the Oahu real estate update for August 2020.

Oahu’s single-family home market continues to make a steady recovery, while condo activity struggles to regain momentum as the pandemic stretches on. Most notably, sales of single-family homes in August marked a new record-high median sales price of $839,000, climbing from $790,000 this time last year and representing a year-over-year increase of 6.2%.

Single-family home closed sales continued to slowly regain momentum month-over-month and marked a 2.8% year-over-year increase. However, the lack of inventory is exacerbated by the falling numbers of new listings with 20.0% fewer listings than last year. Single-family homes are selling 44.4% faster than last year, with these properties spending a median of just 15 days on the market.

The condo market’s recovery cannot match pace with single-family homes as condos saw neither a year-over-year nor a month-over-month improvement in closed sales. In August, condo sales dropped 20.1% compared to last year and dipped 4.0% compared to July. However, the median price ticked up 2.5% since last year from $419,500 to $430,000. New listings saw a slight month-over-month increase of 5.9%, but total new listings still trail 19.0% year-over-year. The median days on the market remained steady year-over-year with condos spending 23 days on the market.

During the past three months and within the market of single-family homes, 43% of sellers received their full asking price or higher compared to 35% of sellers during this same period last year.

Following Mayor Caldwell’s Stay-at-Home Work-From-Home order that went into effect on August 27, real estate activity is remaining steady compared to the steep drop in activity following the first Stay-at-Home order in March. Over the past few weeks, new listing activity is relatively level, while new escrow volume marked a year-over-year increase last week.

Courtesy of Honolulu Board of Realtors