In contrast to yesterday's robust new home sales figures, today's existing home sales were very, very soft:

Existing-home sales retreated in April to the lowest pace in nearly four years as subprime loan market troubles dog the housing sector. Home resales fell to a 5.99 million annual rate, a 2.6% decrease from a 6.15-million pace in March, the National Association of Realtors said Friday…"We are not at all surprised that home sales would be weak in April in particular and most likely all spring, as uncertainty surrounding the subprime mortgage situation definitely appears to be encouraging potential buyers to sit on their hands a while longer to see what the market will look like when the dust clears," wrote Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets…"The inventory glut has halted much of the rise in prices, but there are still only modest declines" year over year, MFR Inc. economist Joshua Shapiro wrote in a note to clients. "The 6.0-month supply used to be an average, but it fell to the very low level of 3.7 months as recently as January "05, and that it is back well above a 6.0 month level, reaching over 8.0 months, is a very good indication of the continuing slowdown in sales and likely downward pressure on prices."

There is simply no way to spin this as anything but bad news for property owners. The limiting factor on Maui is that few second home buyers are sub-prime mortgage candidates. For more information, contact us!