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My personal opinion is that regardless of when the economy begins an upward turn, people in general will not be looking to take a vacation. More people are beginning to realize that they need to have a savings account to fall back on when needed. To stick to a budget according to their income and not overspend by maxing out credit cards. With the housing industry in the slumps, people are/will be putting money into their existing homes doing repairs, upgrades, improvements, additions, etc. instead of attempting to purchase a new home. The rise and fall of fuel prices, climbing food and consumer goods prices are hitting people hard in their pocketbooks. The fear of overall job instability will linger in people's minds long after the economy begins to stabilize. I think that people will start to take periodic "mini vacations" throughout the year rather than spending one large lump sum of money for a long vacation. And they will likely plan their trips closer to home to save on travel expenses. They may even decide to pacify themselves with small luxury purchases and forgo travel altogether. I think that it will be several years before we begin to see people breathe a sigh of relief and feel that everything is "back to normal" again.
pj737 makes some interesting observations...."42% of all homeowners (Hawaii) own their properties free and clear, which is 28% more than the national average (33%)". This could explain why we have not seen a flood of properties on the market or a free fall in pricing. It's also worth while noting that the RE Board's figures for February indicate an increase in the numbers of units sold on Oahu as well as increase in median prices. The worst that can be said is that at least we are trending in the right direction in RE...unemployment, construction and tourism still have a ways to go. But, it's not the doom and gloom that is predicted as pj737 rightly indicates....those are my thoughts.
My personal opinion is that regardless of when the economy begins an upward turn, people in general will not be looking to take a vacation. More people are beginning to realize that they need to have a savings account to fall back on when needed. To stick to a budget according to their income and not overspend by maxing out credit cards. With the housing industry in the slumps, people are/will be putting money into their existing homes doing repairs, upgrades, improvements, additions, etc. instead of attempting to purchase a new home. The rise and fall of fuel prices, climbing food and consumer goods prices are hitting people hard in their pocketbooks. The fear of overall job instability will linger in people's minds long after the economy begins to stabilize. I think that people will start to take periodic "mini vacations" throughout the year rather than spending one large lump sum of money for a long vacation. And they will likely plan their trips closer to home to save on travel expenses. They may even decide to pacify themselves with small luxury purchases and forgo travel altogether. I think that it will be several years before we begin to see people breathe a sigh of relief and feel that everything is "back to normal" again.
Below is a link to very interesting article about California Real Estate - Most of Hawaii's tourists come from California. A quote:
Note to California's favorite tourist destinations Las Vegas and Hawaii: Your customers will have less money with which to gamble and buy suntan lotion, which does not bode well for your economies…
I would like a condo in HI too, but most are apartment/hotel conversion so they are a bit cramp, although they are more afforable now than in the past.I'm still looking. Anyone living Oahu have any tips on areas that's more preferrable, and why?I also would like to buy some land too but seems Big Island has its own problem with volcanic VOG on certain season. Do you recommend certain areas to avoid it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by HankDfrmSD
Most of Hawaii's tourists come from California.
Interesting, I didn't know that...
I said that without checking, but decided, after your comment, that I'd get a little data. I have records on a vacation rental that go back about twenty years. They are in an old dos program that allows you to sort by various parameters. Here's what I found:
Total bookings in all those years: 385
From Colorado: 20
From Texas: 25
From Oregon: 10
From Washington: 14
From Nevada: 6
From California: 148
I said that without checking, but decided, after your comment, that I'd get a little data. I have records on a vacation rental that go back about twenty years. They are in an old dos program that allows you to sort by various parameters. Here's what I found:
Total bookings in all those years: 385
From Colorado: 20
From Texas: 25
From Oregon: 10
From Washington: 14
From Nevada: 6
From California: 148
Even more than I thought.
Hank,
I would be interested in knowing where the Japanese tourists fit in these numbers...considering that I was reading today in the papers that the number of Japanese tourists (honeymooners) are up this year?
I would be interested in knowing where the Japanese tourists fit in these numbers...considering that I was reading today in the papers that the number of Japanese tourists (honeymooners) are up this year?
In almost twenty years, there has not been one Japanese tourist in that vacation rental, but that's because it is a house, on Kauai. Most of the Japanese tourists go to Waikiki, and stay in hotels.
(Now that's a statement I have no data for, but, after walking around Waikiki many a time, I am absolutely sure of it.)
According to HTA's 2007 (most recent posted) visitor statistics, 60% of the state's tourist travelers came from California. And it looks like about 18% came from Japan. (The Japan market has been trending down for at least two years now, so we had even fewer tourists from Japan last year.) HTA provides several reports online in PDF format at Visitor Statistics — Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism if you really want to dig in.
According to HTA's 2007 (most recent posted) visitor statistics, 60% of the state's tourist travelers came from California. And it looks like about 18% came from Japan. (The Japan market has been trending down for at least two years now, so we had even fewer tourists from Japan last year.) HTA provides several reports online in PDF format at Visitor Statistics — Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism if you really want to dig in.
Thanks for the info whynot...I wonder what the new "normal" will look like a year form now?!
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