Hawaiian home away from home

Canadians are one of the forces holding up Hawaii's real estate market and currently estimated to account for 10% to 15% of foreign buyers.

The main draw for foreigners seem to be in the $500,000 + luxury home and condo sector as many see this market as currently having good value with great future growth potential.

Sales volume has cooled off from its highs in 2005 and with the weak US dollar, many foreigners are buying up luxury condos and houses for investment and vacation homes.

One realtor comments, "Maui inventory is much more available and affordable. The period of "irrational exuberance" in the Real Estate Market is over for now. There has been a correction and the over inflated priced homes do not sell. The market seems to have stabilized in the recent months."

Final thoughts: A quick search showed vacation rentals in the $120.00 per night for a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo.

I looked around an MLS site and there are plenty of options for less than $300,000.

It would require more investigation but on the surface it looks like one could purchase a decent condo around the $200,000 mark and have tourists pay it off.

If you are interested in a vacation home in Hawaii it's worth looking into.

Banks Reluctant To Pass On Rate Cuts

There are signs the Bank of Canada and the U.S. Federal Reserve are running out of room to deliver further interest rate relief to their economies.

Commercial banks in Canada are showing an increasing reluctance to pass on the central bank's rate cuts, and further Fed cuts are expected to run into opposition from members who are starting to fear inflation more than recession.

REM: Real estate may be leveling off to a more "balanced market" however the balance of 2008 will tell the real storey. We could even begin to see a shift in some Canadian markets in the next couple months since the spring is typically the most active months of the cycle. There are a few items I think will impact the real estate market in the not so distant future: recession fears, the impact of the banks holding back on mortgage rate cuts, fears of global inflation impacting Canada and highly leveraged first-time buyers .

B.C. sales figures rank dead last among provinces

Retail sales in B.C. placed dead last among the provinces in January in an underwhelming performance one economist suggests may be a blip.

B.C. was the only province in Canada to see a sales decline in January as month-over-month sales shrank by 0.2 per cent, Statistics Canada said yesterday.

Nationally, retail sales rose by 1.5 per cent, buoyed by Canadians' hunger for cars, clothes, building supplies and furniture.

Business Council of B.C. economist Jock Finlayson said B.C.'s sales figures are a bit puzzling given the province's strength in other economic areas such as the labour market.

"We have had quite strong retail sales until this report, so I wouldn't jump to a conclusion based on one month," Finlayson said.

"It could very well be a blip rather than a sign of any fundamental slowdown of retail sales."

REM: This may be a blip however I have one associate who works for a large furnitue distributor and he claims shipments to individual stores are down when compared to the same period over the last few years.