If you have been tracking the West Hawaii real estate market over the past few years, the one constant you may have seen is our continued lack of inventory and prices rising. As LUVA Real Estate reported in the March 2018 real estate update, single family homes are not leaving the market as quickly as they were a year ago.
So, to give you some good news if you are in the market to buy a home in West Hawaii now, we give you three reasons why it may be easier to buy a home right now.
1. Interest rates are at the lowest they have been since September 2018.
As of March 14, 2019 the average interest rates for a 30 year fixed mortgage was at 4.31%, compared to January 2019 at 4.45% and 5% in September. So, even if West Hawaii home prices ARE inching up, the good news is that lower interest rates help balance that out. Are you shopping for mortgage rates with a local lender?
According to research from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), almost half of consumers do not compare quotes when shopping for a home loan, which means losing out on substantial savings. Interest rates help determine your monthly mortgage payment as well as the total amount of interest you’ll pay over the life of the loan. While it may not seem like much, even a half of a percentage point decrease can amount to a significant amount of money.
2. According to real time statistics, we have entered into a buyers market.
The market has shown some evidence of slowing recently according to Altos Research which provides real time data on the local housing market. For single family homes in Kailua Kona, Altos data shows that 37% of the single family homes on the market have experienced price decreases and 26% of the condos have also decreased their listing price. One factor which may be causing the slowdown is that the buyers who were here during the winter have left the market, which is a seasonal aspect to the West Hawaii housing market. This is good news for buyers who have been holding out for motivated sellers.
3. LUVA Real Estate is making it easier to view available homes weekly.
LUVA has recently implemented “Open House Friday’s” where all available LUVA Real Estate listings will be open from 2-6 pm for ease of access to see what is on the market and be able to talk to a knowledgeable Realtor in the house about the market and current inventory. For a list of available open homes, call the LUVA office and we can send you the information and you can drop in and view homes at your leisure.
If you are considering selling your home, LUVA Real Estate is proactively exposing your home to buyers with our new weekly Friday open house campaign. Contact us for more information about what your home is worth and how we can get it onto the market quickly.