Sales for January, as reported today by the Honolulu Board of REALTORS® (HBR), came in pretty weak but this wasn't unexpected. The prices, however, were at current levels and in line with estimates.

Dana Chandler , newly-elected President of HBR, said, "We continue to be fortunate that sales prices on O`ahu are being maintained at 2007 levels. The first couple months of each year are historically slow in the housing market, but there are many buying opportunities for O`ahu properties as demand has dwindled and sharp buyers and sellers should be able to negotiate mutually beneficial sales agreements."

There were reported resales of 228 single family homes and 342 condominiums last month. A year ago, these numbers were 263 and 418, for sales decreases of 13.3% and 22.5%, respectively. Leeward O`ahu single family home sales held up the best, down only 7.6% from last year. On the condo side, East O`ahu bucked the downward trend and added 42.1% in sales.

The median prices paid for properties in January were $600,000 for single family homes and $324,000 for condominiums. The single family home price was exactly the same as last year and the condominium price advanced by 1.3%.

If we look at the geographic regions, we get a different picture. The single family prices in both Metro O`ahu and on the North Shore were more than 20% higher this year. For condos, the median price in East O`ahu rose by 5.8%, to $545,000.

The all-important dollar volume dropped but, thanks to higher prices, not as much as the sales. Total dollar volume for January was $345.5 million compared to last year's $368.9 million, a decrease of 6.3%, or $23.4 million.

In my newspaper quote, I said, "The local economy appears to be poised for a slowdown, but the weaker dollar could attract new demand from overseas purchasers. Look for both adjustable and fixed mortgage rates to continue downward, making financing for those who can qualify much less costly."

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Interest Rates For This Week

In the Federal Reserve publication (H.15) of interest rate indexes (not indicies ), the 1-year figure fell 8 basis points, to 2.23, and the 10-year number was 3.67, which is up from last week by 9 basis points.