Oahu Still in Pretty Good Shape: August 2009 Foreclosure Stats

In August, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that the rate of filing in the entire state of Hawaii had increased by 332% from July 2008 to July 2009, with the island of Maui leading the islands with 1 in every 362 homes going into foreclosure. The island of Oahu fared quite a bit better, with a rate of 1 in every 618 homes going into foreclosure.

In September, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin cited August numbers, including reporting that, as a state, Hawaii was ranked #20 of all 50 states in foreclosure activity, with the island of Kauai, leading the islands in rate of foreclosure.

While the island of Oahu has seen an increase in foreclosures, clearly, the neighbor islands are pulling the state of Hawaii's ranking as to foreclosure activity down. As would be expected, the neighbor islands also have higher rates of unemployment and have seen more of a general decline in their real estate market.

So the good news here is, according to Realty Trac foreclosure activity statistics, as of August 2009, the Honolulu Metropolitan area (island of Oahu), still ranks a somewhat healthy #150 out of the top 203 National Metropolitan areas, with only 1 in every 1,109 households in foreclosure. On Oahu, a few primary areas have most of the foreclosure activity. These are the Ewa Beach, Kapolei, and Mililani areas (see Realty Trac chart below). Waianae, Kaneohe & Waipahu, on Oahu, also had higher than average activity. The other areas listed in the Top 10 Hawaii Zip Code Chart, below, are on the island of Kauai (Lihue), Maui (Wailuku, Kihei & Lahaina), and the Big Island of Hawaii (Kailua-Kona, Hilo, Waikoloa).