Oahu’s best performing neighborhoods in 2019

By Lisa Scontras

Oahu sales volume continues to be strong — single-family home sales are up 12.3 percent and condo sales up 6.5 percent in October compared to last year, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors®. In addition to the island-wide stats, HBR tracks sales activities for 21 neighborhoods. The following is a comparison of some of Oahu’s top-performing neighborhoods statistics for the first three quarters of 2019 as contrasted to the same period in 2018.

Highest sales volume

Three neighborhoods had single-family home year-to-date sales volume increase of 15 percent or more. Waialae-Kahala had a 15 percent increase in the number of closed sales — from 68 homes sold during the first nine months of 2018, to 78 closings in the first nine months of 2019. Makiki-Moiliili had a 22 percent increase, from 76 closed sales in 2018, compared to 93 during the same period this year. And in Kapahulu-Diamond Head, there was a 24 percent bump up of closed sales — from 137 through September 2018, to 170 in 2019.

The top three neighborhoods posting the highest condo sales volume increase year-to-date were: Kailua-Waimanalo, up 10 percent; Waipahu up 14 percent, and Downtown Nuuanu up 21 percent from 2018 figures.

Increase in Median Sales Price

Comparing statistics from the first three quarters of 2018 to same period in 2019, the neighborhood with the highest bounce-up in median sales price was Ala Moana-Kakaako with an 11 percent increase — from $897,500 in 2018 to $997,500 this year. The Windward Coast area was in second place with a price jump of 9 percent — from $780,000 in 2018 to $850,000 this year.

Condos with the highest price bump up in prices sold in Downtown-Nuuanu with a 12 percent increase. Ala Moana-Kakaako prices rose by 8 percent, and Makaha-Nanakuli posted 7 percent increases in MSP.

Of the 21 neighborhoods on Oahu, 13 posted declines in median sales price — ranging from 1 percent (Pearl City-Aiea), to 21 percent (Aina Haina) when comparing the same time period.

Sellers getting their “asking price”

During the the first nine months of 2019, single-family sales where sellers received the highest list-to-sales price-ratio were in Ewa Plain, Wahiawa, and the Windward Coast with sales prices fetching 98.7 percent of their original list price.

Condo sellers in the Ewa Plain, Mililani and Moanalua-Salt Lake realized more than 99 percent of their original asking price.

Fastest selling neighborhoods

In October, the median number of days on the market island-wide is reported as 23 for a single-family home, and 26 days for a condo.

Combined stats for the first nine months of the year show only two neighborhoods took more than 30 days to sell — Makaha-Nanakuli (34 DOM) and Waialae-Kahala (39 DOM). Single-family homes sold the quickest in Pearl City-Aiea (16 DOM) and Kaneohe (17 DOM). Three neighborhoods — Kapahulu-Diamond Head, Wahiawa, and Waipahu — sold in 18 days.

Fastest selling condos sold in Mililani (DOM 13) and North Shore (DOM 16), while condos in Wahiawa and Waipahu sold in 18 days.

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