Taken from a previous post 8/15/2007 on Yvonne Jaramillo's Oahu Hawaii Real Estate Blog at www.yvonneahearn.com/oahu-re-blog.asp
According to Laurie Moore-Moore, the Executive Director for the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing, citing statistics from the World Wealth Report, more and more people are becoming financial millionaires. The number has jumped 8.3%, to 9.5 million, worldwide, since last year. The number in North America is 3.2 million. The report goes on to state that this group has increasingly pulled its wealth out of some other forms of investments, putting 24% of their investment into real estate. This is an increase of over 50% from last year.
This is good news in the Hawaii real estate market, particularly, since approximately 49% of the real estate investment by these wealthy individuals went into vacation and second homes properties, often paid for in cash. With the vacation and second home market outperforming the overall market, the world-wide desire for million and multi-million dollar properties in tropical destinations, such as Hawaii, is growing.
So while the real estate markets in many locales are stagnant or declining, the Hawaiian market, especially in the $2 million and up properties, remains relatively strong. With prices still stable or rising slightly, in most areas of Oahu, and inventory generally increasing, it can be a both a good time to buy or sell. So far, at least, the Hawaiian market has also been somewhat resistant (we have the 6th lowest rate of foreclosures in the Nation) to the deluge of mortgage foreclosures we are seeing on the mainland, which is keeping our market more stable.
See also recent news: http://starbulletin.com/2007/08/08/news/story01.html
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