Honolulu Among Top 5 U.S. Cities for Home Sellers

According to new rankings released by real estate brokers Movoto, Honolulu is the fourth best city in America for home sellers. The bad news? When it comes to the best cities to buy a house, we don’t even break the top 50.

The news that homes in Honolulu are expensive is not exactly, you know, news. But we decided to dig a little deeper into Movoto’s methodology to understand exactly how sellers got themselves the upper-hand. This is a post-game breakdown of how Honolulu accomplished the somewhat paradoxical feat of becoming a great place to unload a property without being a good place to pick one up.

Low Crime, Good Schools
These factors worked in Honolulu’s advantage on both sets of rankings, because they keep property values high over time—something buyers and sellers both care about. Among the top 100 most crowded cities in America, we boast the 7th lowest crime rate and the 8th best school quality.
Sellers: 1, Buyers: 1.

Total Homes for Sale
Fewer homes on the market is good news for sellers; the competition among buyers allows them to set high prices. On the flipside, as affordability decreases, buyers lose out.
Sellers: 2, Buyers: 1.

Unemployment Rate
Honolulu was ranked fourth in terms of low unemployment (Seattle came first, but the difference was a manini .2 percent). People with jobs buy houses so it makes sense that low unemployment benefits sellers. For buyers, unfortunately, this is where it gets a little tricky. A low unemployment rate is usually a good indicator that resale values will be strong (point for buyers). In this case, though, Movoto believes the increased competition for the limited Honolulu housing inventory outweighs the resale concerns (buyers lose point).
Sellers: 3, Buyers: 1.

To check out the full list, visit movoto.com.