How did APEC affect your plans and do you think it was good for Hawaii?
On another note, there are some good signs for those with eyes on the national and Hawaii real estate market, depending on how look at the data (and it’s always about how you look at the data). A recent article shows an uptick in activity but notes that prices are still below last year’s levels across the nation. As usual, shadow inventory is the prime suspect for those bearish on the market and, here in Hawaii, it’s especially hard to disagree with that view since the foreclosure moratorium stopped the foreclosure pipeline. However, there are those who expectedly see a brighter outlook for 2012, most notably the National Association of Realtors, whose opinion apparently rests on easing of credit restrictions. Will it happen?
Will credit restrictions ease enough in 2012 to increase buying activity in Hawaii?
Lastly, I want to point out an article I found the other day on msnbc.com that uses CoreLogic data to rank major cities with the fewest underwater homes (mortgages). They ranked Honolulu #10 on the list with just 6.58% of home mortgages upside down and an almost 7% increase in price from this point last year. Coupling that with a relatively low unemployment figure, it does make the Hawaii market look comparatively strong. However at the same time, data is often in the eye of the beholder and can be interpreted many ways. These figures do indeed look promising and for those with the means (i.e. available credit or cash), it can be an excellent time to buy a home in Hawaii (after tons of diligence, right?), but the aforementioned shadow inventory still has the potential to ‘whack’ the system a bit. While we may look favorably on this ranking as the tenth least overleveraged market in the nation, the price point at which the Hawaii real estate market operates means that even small changes in market behavior can, in a very short time period, turn a performing asset with equity into an upside down home. If that’s the case, then we’ll likely be seeing more short sales, even with the foreclosure moratorium giving owners ‘time to work things out’.