Until last year, the global pandemic was caused by the covid which affected the travel industry. However, the cases have improved since this year, and a lot of people started to travel again.
Many Japanese people returned to Waikiki during the summer, especially in August bringing Hawaii back to life.
In this article, we will report the current situation of real estate in Hawaii and the tendency of the Hawaii tourism industry along with the preliminary figures.
What is the current real estate situation in Hawaii? Is it on a downward trend?
During the pandemic, Hawaii’s real estate market did not slump but rather remained strong. This is the latest statistic for August below.
As you see this statistic, numbers for both condos and houses are decreasing which gives us the impression that they are on a downward trend, however, in reality, it’s more of the stabilization.
Median closing price remains unchanged
In the Hawaii real estate market, the median closing price is the number to look at when determining market trends.
This median price means the price is just in the middle between the lowest and highest prices　when arranging all the contract prices of the contracted properties in order.
“The average value” is calculated by adding all the closing prices and dividing by the number of closings. However in this case, if an expensive property is included, the average price rises drastically. Especially since there are many expensive properties in Hawaii, the numbers fluctuate wildly, the median price is a more realistic number to look at.
Both condos and houses have had an upward trend overall in the past 5 years including covid period.
Although it has partially increased from 2021 to 2022, this is because the popularity of Hawaii increased temporarily in the mainland, US during the pandemic.
Therefore, the numbers are negative in 2023 when compared with 2022 when It was strong.
However, when compared to 2019 before the pandemic, the average rate from January to August was 104%, so It is hard to say that it is a negative number.
It can be said that the temporary popularity has subsided, and the market is returning to stable just like before the pandemic.
Waikiki and Kakaako/Ala Moana areas with new luxury properties are also on an upward trend.
The number of closing rates keeps slowing down
Transactions had increased significantly due to the temporary rise in popularity of Hawaii during the pandemic, but the number of transactions has now stabilized to the level before 2019.
Is the price of real estate in Hawaii going down? Forecasting future trends
As you can see the numbers released every month by the Honolulu Real Estate Association, It have been decreasing overall compared to the previous year. However, as stated above, it increased temporarily in activity from 2020 to 2022 during the pandemic. Since It is not possible to travel overseas, Hawaii is a place where you can escape from your busy daily life on a domestic trip from the mainland or work remotely in resorts.
For future trends, It is believed that this unstable Hawaii real estate market will subside and return to an upward trend just like before, so the price will not fall.
Tourism in Hawaii is recovering
Hawaii was the first place to open its door to tourists, domestic flight operations returned to normal, and the number of tourists from the mainland returned to the level of pre-pandemic in May 2021. Now that international operations have returned, how has the situation changed from, 2019, before the pandemic?
It remains strong in the mainland, US
The number of tourists from the mainland is increasing in August 2023, at 150% compared to 2019, before the pandemic.
January 2023 596,637 people（118.64%） February 582,065 people（119.03%）, March 709,761 people（113.62%）,April 651,810 people（119.01%）,May 649,964 people（110.69%）, June 734,669 people（105.99% ）,July 748,532 people（106.00%）,August 936,353 people （150.93%）which is higher number of tourists compared from 2019.
It’s recovering in Japan
The number of tourists from Japan has finally started to increase since May when the travel ban is lifted. Especially in the most recent month of August, the number of tourists from Japan increased to 99,050 people which is over 60% compared to 2019.
It is expected that the number of travelers will be back by next year.
About our partnership, Ui travel
We have recently cooperated with Ui Travel, a hotel arrangements company. It’s a Hyatt hotel agent, and you can make reservations at Hyatt hotels with good deals. More details will be in the interview article, so please check it out if you are interested.
Summary
As of August 2023, the real estate market in Hawaii is in the process of returning to normal and stabilizing after the temporary revitalization caused by the covid.
Regarding the tourism industry, the number of domestic tourists in the states is getting better than before the covid, and the number of Japanese tourists is returning to normal.
The tourism industry is expected to be even better as we have the American holiday season in November and the Japanese tourists are expected to return in December.
In the real estate industry, It is important to know the latest market conditions.
We can check the numerical trends for your desired area or condo, so If there is a property or area you are interested in, please feel free to contact us.
