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The Diamond Head area real estate market, part of the larger Oahu housing market, saw a particularly strong year in 2010, according to statistics from the Honolulu Board of Realtors and Pacific Business News. Across the entire island of Oahu, there were a total of 306 single-family homes purchased in the month of December 2010, marking a significant year-over-year increase. In December 2009, there were only 272 single-family homes sold throughout the City & County of Honolulu. In other words, there was approximately a twelve and a half percent increase in the quantity of homes sold between 2009 and 2010. Over the entirety of 2010, there were a total of 3,051 homes purchased, compared to only 2,690 throughout 2009 – marking a increase of thirteen percent. Condominium sales in particular actually decreased in 2010 compared to 2009, declining from 350 units in December 2009 to 341 units in December 2010. Conversely, over the entire year there were ten percent more than in 2010, increasing from 3,566 to 3,934. In terms of median price, an Oahu home averaged a sales price of $587,000 in December 2010, representing an increase of about six percent from $555,000 in December 2009. Over the entire year, the median price increased three percent from $575,000 to $592,750. Condominiums, on the other hand, remained essentially unchanged on both year-over-year and month-over-month metrics.
This increase in the median sales price of Diamond Head homes for sale and other Oahu real estate was reported by the Honolulu Star Advertiser to represent a reversal of a two-year decline in the local housing market. According to the Honolulu Board of Realtors, the median price across Oahu had fallen from a peak of $640,000 in 2007 to a nadir of $575,000 in 2009. This was the first year-over-year increase since the housing market began to decline back in 2007. One local expert noted that the yearly improvement in median price was especially encouraging in reference to the previous declines of median price on Oahu. Median prices declined by about three percent and seven percent from 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 on Oahu, whereas many metropolitan areas saw consecutive double-digit declines over the same period.
