Mike Drutar REALTOR (S) e-PRO

We are seeing fewer distressed properties on the market. Currently there are 2393 active and in escrow listings of houses and condos on the entire island. 349 of those are short sales (14.5%), 66 are pre-foreclosure (2.7%), and 194 are bank owned sales (8.1%). So, distressed sales make up about 25% of the listings. We have had a total of 2058 sales this year, and 869 of those have been distressed property sales, which makes up about 42% of all sales. I mention this because distressed properties represent a good value compared to other properties. Often, people are put off by a short sale listing. Generally speaking, the banks have done a good job at streamlining the short sale process, and it can be a great opportunity to reduce your purchase price, if you can wait the 45 day for the bank to approve the short sale.

Home Inventory Shrinking:

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/11/visible-existing-home-inventory_28.html

We are seeing the number of homes on the market dwindle nationwide.

Mortgage rates look to remain low for 2012

http://www.lvrj.com/real_estate/experts-say-mortgage-rates-will-remain-low-for-2012-134956238.html

We see that the number of units sold continues to be very consistent.  The median prices are down, houses are down 5.15% from last year, and condos are down 17.7% from last year.

South Kohala

Residential sales look very stable, but we are seeing a few more condos being sold.  I don’t think the number of condo sales is indicative of any change in the market though.