Million-dollar homes more common - Multi-Million Dollar Homes - Part 1 of 2

Two-part series focuses on the increas of million-dollar homes.

 

HONOLULU ADVERTISER July 9, 2006

BY LISA SCONTRAS

Custom Publishing Group

 

Home sales in the once-rare price range of $1 million dollars or more totalled 146 in the first quarter of this year, comprising 15.5 percent of the sales activity on Oahu, according to the Honolulu Board of Realtors.

Currently, of the 4,912 properties listed on Oahu, 932 have an asking price of at least $1 million . These million-dollar listings range from an 1,861-square-foot unit at the Peninsula at Hawaii Kai, a 78-year-old single-family home in Moiliili, or a brand new 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit at The Watermark in Waikiki to a home in Makaha, which is said to be the lowest price ocean-front home on Oahu. More than half of these properties — approximately 650 listings — are under $2 million, according to research produced by the Fine Homes Division at Prudential Locations LLC, which tracks and analyzes real estate activity in the state.

In the $10-million-and-up category, you have your choice of 30 listings. You can choose from a Peter Vincent original in the Diamond Head area, a beach-front estate in Kailua or a 107.69-acre lot overlooking Sunset Beach.

With the median sales price on Oahu around $625,000, prices on the high-end have pushed up even higher — taking a larger percentage of homes into that previously-exclusive category, according to Dolores Bediones and Glen Fujihara, Fine Homes Division specialists and partners at Prudential Locations.

“Million-dollar market is now an outdated term,” says Fujihara, a 26-year veteran in high-end sales. “Multi-million is more accurate. You can’t just use the term ‘millionaires’ anymore. Now, you really have to define who you’re talking about and the breakdown of the different categories.” Fujihara and Bediones outlined those categories as follows:

$1 million to $2.5 million:
-Professionals.
-Average people with a half-million-plus in equity to put towards purchase.
-Local buyer.

$2.5 million to $5 million:
-New million-dollar buyer.
-Still mostly local.
-Funds to purchase come from other assets — not principal residence.

$5 million to $10 million:
-Cash buyers.
-Buyers have multiple-home collections.
-Financing is not an issue.
-Most from Europe, Mainland, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

$10 million plus:
-Own more homes than they can possibly use.
-Worth $300 to $400 million dollars.
-International buyer.
-Own their own planes and yachts.

“We can tell a lot even by what type of plane they own,” says Fujihara. “If they own a G4, those cost $25 million bucks and $2 million a year in operating costs. Those are the kinds of resources that define wealth in that category.”

“Above $3 million but under $10, they are not airplane owners but are multiple home owners,” says Bediones, who recently listed a waterfront home in Portlock for $15.2 million.“These buyers aren’t so much looking for an investment or for a return, as much as they’re looking for a certain lifestyle.”

Bediones points out that buyers in the multi-million dollar market are less worried about prices or interest rates going up.

“They pay cash, so the fact that interest rates are going up has less of an impact,” she says.

 

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