And the Good News Is...

November 20, 2008

It's getting to be more and more difficult to find good news on TV. Reporters seem to be reveling in stirring up as much "doom and gloom" news as they can – after all it's been proven that bad news sells better than good. Our addiction to news tickers and 24 hour coverage was solidified during horrific news events of the last decade. But there IS positive news to be found if you dig hard enough.

28 Metropolitan areas showed increases in median existing single-family home prices from the same quarter in 2007. Areas such as Elmira NY, Tulsa OK, Wichita KS and Urbana IL.

But even in areas where average home sales have dropped drastically, there is good news. Buyers who have been shut out of the home ownership market, are now finding that they can afford to buy. And they ARE buying. Three states where the ‘housing bubble' has burst are seeing some of the highest increases in sales. The largest sales gain during the third quarter was in Arizona, up 28.3 percent from the second quarter, followed by California which rose 28.1 percent and Nevada, up 26.2 percent. These areas have seen some of the strongest sales gains with some reports of multiple bidding.

And there's also good news for sellers. The typical seller purchased their home six years ago and is still experiencing net equity gains, even in today's depressed markets. The national increase in value since the third quarter of 2002 is 18.3 percent, which is a median gain of $31,000. Even with the current downward price distortion, 90 percent of metro areas are showing six-year price gains.

So while we are definitely in turbulent economic times, there is GOOD NEWS to be found if you look for it. Hopefully, some home buying incentives will be passed soon to stimulate even more home ownership. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, said that, "A pattern of sharply higher sales in areas with large price declines is well established," Yun said. "Affordability conditions have consistently been a major factor in driving sales. Historically during recessions, buyers have responded to incentives and it's important for government to keep that in the forefront of stimulus decisions."

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Local Information for Kihei, HI

Latitude: 20.759122 -- Longitude: -156.457228

Other Area Cities: Kihei Kahului Wailuku

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As of the census of 2000, there were 16,749 people, 6,170 households, and 3,813 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 636.5/km² (1,648.6/mi²). There were 9,170 housing units at an average density of 348.5/km² (902.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 47.76% White, 0.74% African American, 0.48% Native American, 24.72% Asian, 7.85% Pacific Islander, 1.58% from other races, and 16.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.52% of the population. There were 6,170 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 10.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.2% were non-families. 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.31. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Hawaii 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Kihei	Hawaii	United States
Population	16,749	1,211,537	281,421,906
Median age	35.3	36.2	35.3
Median age for Male	35.3	35.1	34
Median age for Female	35.3	37.4	36.5
Households	6,170	403,240	105,480,101
Household population	16,673	1,175,755	273,643,273
Average household size	2.7	2.92	2.59
Families	3,811	287,068	71,787,347
Average family size	3.31	3.42	3.14
Housing units	9,170	460,542	115,904,641
Occupied units	6,170	403,240	105,480,101
Vacant units	3,000	57,302	10,424,540

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