Lynda Gill’s Poipu, Kauai, Hawaii Real Estate at Pacific Ocean Properties

United States Average Home Sales

The National Association of Realtors released national data that shows existing-home sales rising in January and inventories decreasing.  This is the recipe for the market turning around, prices rising-inventory decreasing.  These sales are for existing homes sales which include single-family homes, town-homes, condominiums and co-ops.

Lawrence Yun,  NAR’s chief economist, said strong gains in contract activity in recent months show buyers are responding to very favorable market conditions. “The uptrend in home sales is in line with all of the underlying fundamentals – pent-up household formation, record-low mortgage interest rates, bargain home prices, sustained job creation and rising rents.”  He also went on to say that the inventory condition is not favoring Buyers or Sellers.  Foreclosures are moving swiftly and ready home buyers and investors are competing in all markets.  Of course Lawrence is speaking on a national level, here in Kauai we see this to be true however its more by price points, some sectors of our market are not responding this way.

The interest rates certainly play a big part as well.  According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage was a record low 3.92 percent in January.

Kauai real estate last week had some good news to report, in spite of the weather.  We had a whole lot of properties go into escrow and a lot of closings as well.  New properties coming on the market?  Not so much!  Here is the excel spreadsheet CLICK HERE FOR SPREADSHEET

Our Weather!

I have been getting phone calls from the mainland and emails from clients asking about our weather this past week.  To be sure its been severe and unusual,  all that you have seen on the news on the mainland (from what I hear from my clients) is true.  It does sound like the same footage is being shown quite a few times over.  However life is moving forward over here, clean up work is being done, residents who have “house fixes” that got put off are now glaringly important and are needing to be addressed.  The streets are getting back to normal, the waters are reseeding and the weather forecast for this next week is looking up.  The wind is still unusually strong and we still have sudden rain showers, power outages and branches in the roads creating hazards.

According to our forecast things are looking up.  Rain showers are expected for the next few days, but forecasters say a more stable weather system is moving across Hawaii.

Over the weekend the National Weather Service said all Hawaiian islands, except Lanai, were under a wind advisory.  But for the first time in days, no island was under a flood watch or warning.

Forecasters are predicting trade winds to be moderate to strong through at least the first half of the week along with frequent showers, but area residents aren’t expected to experience to the severe weather that hit the islands during the past several days and the amount of rain will be a lot less than what we have had this last week.

Alaska Airlines Adds Service To Kauai

Alaska Airlines expands its Bay Area to Hawaii flying starting yesterday with new daily nonstop service from Oakland and San Jose, Calif., to Lihue on the island of Kauai and Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii. The airline previously served these markets with three to four flights a week

“We are essentially doubling our service from Oakland and San Jose to Kauai and the Big Island,” said Joe Sprague, Alaska’s vice president of marketing. “Going to seven flights a week to each of these islands makes it more convenient than ever for Bay Area travelers flying to Hawaii.”

And if that’s  not enough…. starting April 10, Alaska Airlines will inaugurate daily flights to Honolulu from Oakland and San Jose. Combined with the carrier’s existing service to Maui, Alaska Airlines will offer daily service to Hawaii’s four major islands from both Oakland and San Jose.

Special air fares are being offered to celebrate these new services.  I hate to publish what I saw on their site in case its been sold out already, its definitely worth a look!