Is the Honolulu, Hawaii Real Estate Market Still a Buyer’s Market?
A traditional method to determine if the Honolulu real estate market favors the buyer or seller is to look at the number of months of inventory remaining. A conventional thumb rule states that if the number of months of inventory remaining is greater than 6, we’re in a buyer’s market. Less than 6 is a seller’s market. What is the number of months of inventory remaining? Simply put, it is a measure of how long it will take to sell all real estate currently on the market in a particular category. Examples of categories include: Oahu Single Family Homes priced above $1 million, Condos in East Oahu, Ko’olani condos, etc. The months of inventory calculation is straight forward: number of homes for sale divided by the number of sales in a given month. Examples (using Dec 2008 and 2009 sales) 1. Oahu Single Family Homes priced above $1 million 2008 – 554 homes for sale divided by 21 sales = 26.4 months of inventory 2009 – 329 homes for sale divided by 31 sales = 10.6 months of inventory 2. Co
