Honolulu Housing Market Ready to Pop?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel runs a piece comparing their local housing market to the national market. Hidden in the article is this:

Price appreciation, here and across the nation, is slowing down markedly, however. Market analysts at Friedman Billings Ramsey Co. Inc. in Arlington, Va., this week predicted that U.S. house appreciation, at 7.1% in the year that ended June 30, will dwindle to less than half that by April 2007. They see one major ready-to-pop housing bubble - the Honolulu, Hawaii market - and 24 metro areas headed for smaller price dips, mostly in high-unemployment areas and none in Wisconsin.

A bigger bubble than Phoenix, San Francisco and Boston? I looked all over for more on Friedman Billings Ramsey Co. Inc.'s prediction and could not find anything beyond this. Intriguing....

Oahu prices up; Homes staying on the market longer

The Advertiser reports that although prices continue to rise, there are signs that a buyer's market is coming:

In June, an average home was on the market for 50 days in June compared with 15 days a year earlier. The number of homes on the market totaled 1,836, or more than double June 2005's number.

"It's not so much of a seller's market anymore," said Harvey Shapiro, the board's research economist. He said it's now uncommon for buyers to offer over asking price for a property, something that occurred frequently last year.

"We peaked in the third quarter of last year, and we're coming down to more sustainable levels. The last few years have been a frenzy."

It's still got far to go, but it looks like the tide is definitely turning on Oahu.