David Y. Ige

HONOLULU – The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) released its first report on Hawaii home buyers.  The “Residential Home Sales in Hawaii” report summarizes home sale activities in Hawaii recorded for the period from January 2008 to September 2015.

The report is based on data compiled by Title Guaranty, which is based on the recorded conveyances from the Hawaii Bureau of Conveyances.  The data includes both resales of existing homes and new developments, and both single family homes and condominium homes, sales through real estate agent as well as sales by owners.

The following is a brief summary of the report:

• Between January 2008 and September 2015, a total of 139,998 homes were sold, this represented an average of 18,064 homes sold per year, or 1,505 homes sold per month.
• Of the homes sold statewide, 72.5 percent were sold to Hawaii residents, 23.5 percent sold to U.S. mainlanders, and 4 percent sold to foreigners.
• Average price for homes purchased by foreign residents was the highest at $785,604, followed by homes purchased by U.S. mainland buyers at $630,390, while homes purchased by Hawaii residents averaged at $478,189.
• About 47 percent of the neighbor island homes were sold to out-of-state residents, while only 15 percent of Oahu homes were sold to out-of-state residents.
• Among the U.S. mainland buyers, California buyers accounted for 38.4 percent of the total, followed by buyers from Texas at 10.5 percent, Washington State buyers ranked third at 8.5 percent.
• Among the foreign buyers, Canadians ranked the first at 44.1 percent, and Japanese buyers ranked the second at 37.9 percent.  Buyers from these two countries accounted for 82 percent of the total foreign buyers.
• Buyers from Hong Kong had the highest average home price at $1.05 million, followed by homes purchased by residents of China at $936,738, and Korean buyers at $882,894.
• Home purchases by Canadian residents have been declining in recent years while purchases by other foreigners have been flat.

The department’s Research and Economic Analysis Division created the report.  DBEDT plans to issue an update to the report by breaking the home sales into single family and condominium homes, and will include the home sales data in its Quarterly Statistical and Economic Report going forward starting in February 2016.

The full report is available at: dbedt.hawaii.gov/economic/reports_studies/residential-home-sales-in-hawaii-trends-and-characteristics/

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Media Contacts:
Christine Hirasa
Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism
Phone: (808) 587-9006
Mobile: (808) 286-9017
Email: [email protected]
Website: dbedt.hawaii.gov