Harvey Shapiro Market Quotations

Even with the higher number of residential sales in March, total sales for the first quarter showed a small decline from last year. This reduced demand, along with the renewed availability of housing, means that the market is moving forward on its path toward stabilization.

When the market was running at 20 and 15 days, people had to get in line to make offers that were at or above the list price. Now people have more time to make a decision.

The days on the market is higher, but you have to realize that in 2004 and 2005 we were setting records with the speed of sales. It's coming back to a more normal market where you have just a couple of people contending for a property.

Leeward is an area that's continuing to grow, even though the overall market on Oahu has slowed down. It's interesting to note how healthy those sales are in comparison to the rest of the island.

It's pretty clear that our market has passed its peak -- which was reached in the third quarter of 2005 -- and we've seen declining unit sales. Prices, however, are still increasing and we expect the prices to continue increasing throughout this year before leveling off.

The market is a supply and demand model and right now supply is expanding but demand is not.

It's hard to tell where the neutral point is, but it's fair to say that we are shifting from more of a seller's market to a buyer's market.