Oahu single-family home prices hits record $795k

Hawaii real-estate firm, Locations reports the median price for single-family homes on Oahu is now $795,000, according to June's Residential Real Estate Report. That's up five percent from the previous peak of $760,000 last year.

Meanwhile, the median price for condominiums was listed at $400,000 in June.

According the report, condo "bid-ups" also reached a record high with 27.1 percent being sold over the asking price.

Locations predicts Oahu's home and condo prices will only continue to rise in 2017, because of the "current competitive market environment."

In addition, days on the market reached a record low of 14 days in June.

"The Oahu real estate market continues to reach new highs as demand simply exceeds the available inventory," says Scott Higashi, President and CEO of Locations. "Historically, summer months are when we see the most activity, so we anticipate the competitive market to continue to drive prices up and consume inventory at or near record pace over the coming months especially as interest rates remain below 4%."

But not everyone is buying, instead some are moving elsewhere.

"I mean of lot of it is cost of living," Asia Rosario said. "99 percent of it is cost of living and knowing that we weren't really going to afford a place that we want without us working extremely hard.. as far as double jobs."

Asia Rosario lived on Oahu her whole life, until just recently when her family decided to pack their bags and move to Las Vegas, Nevada.

"We just bought a place.. and our mortgage is $1,600, but that a 1900 square-foot home.. So you get more for your money obviously here than in Hawaii."

Island News spoke with real estate agent, Kimberlyn Racoma, who works for Realty ONE Group in Las Vegas. She says about 90 percent of her clients are from Hawaii.

Racoma says some are leaving Oahu for the cheaper home rates on the "9th Island."

"I definitely am seeing a lot more people reaching out to me from Hawaii. The main reason is just.. everybody's comment is just.. 'I can't do this anymore'," Racoma sad. "Then they start to ask me well what is it like to purchase a house there."

According to Racoma, a "luxury home" in Las Vegas cost if not the same, less than a single-family home on Oahu.

Meanwhile a $795,000 price tag, could buy two homes in "Sin City," since the median price for a Las Vegas single-family home is about $350,000 dollars.

Regardless, according to the Locations report, home sales on Oahu still hit a 10-year record this June.