Rate on 30-year mortgage slips to 3.54 percent

WASHINGTON >> Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages crept closer to their historic lows this week, a trend that could help the housing recovery strengthen.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for the 30-year fixed loan edged down to 3.54 percent from 3.57 percent last week. That’s near the 3.31 percent reached in November, which was the lowest on records dating to 1971.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage declined to 2.74 percent from 2.76 percent last week. The record low of 2.63 percent also was reached in November.

Low mortgage rates have contributed to a housing rebound more than six years after the bubble burst. Home sales and construction are up, prices are rising and more Americans are refinancing. That’s helped the broader economy.

Hawaiian Air passenger traffic up 10.2%

Hawaiian Airlines’ passenger traffic jumped 10.2 percent in March from the year-earlier period as the fast-growing carrier added more flights.

The state’s largest airline transported 855,746 people compared with 776,659 in March 2012. However, its load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, dropped 3.6 percentage points to 81.3 percent from 84.9 percent.

Available seat miles, or one seat transported one mile, rose 29.3 percent to 1.4 million from 1.1 million while revenue passenger miles, or one paying passenger transported one mile, gained 23.8 percent to 1.1 million from 925,632.

Central Pacific to open branch in Ewa

Central Pacific Bank’s new Ewa branch will open Monday at Launani Village — adjacent to Safeway — at 91-1107 Keaunui Drive.

It will the bank’s 35th branch in the state.

A grand opening on May 11 will include daily prize giveaways and a grand prize of a trip for two.

Branch hours are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, Sunday and holidays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Honolulu makes top 3 in traffic congestion

Navigation device maker TomTom rated Honolulu the third most traffic-congested city in North America in its 2012 Congestion Index, released Thursday.

Los Angeles tops the list with rush hour travel times 33 percent longer than when traffic is flowing freely. Vancouver, British Columbia, is No. 2 with a 32 percent congestion rate, and Honolulu is third with a 30 percent congestion rate.

San Francisco placed fourth at 29 percent, and Seattle rounded out the top five at 26 percent.

TomTom studied 59 major market areas in North America.

Hawaii called worst state to make a living

MoneyRates.com, a personal finance website, listed Hawaii as the worst state in the union to make a living. Washington, Virginia and Colorado were the best states. Mississippi and Rhode Island were ranked at 49 and 48, respectively, joining Hawaii at the bottom.

The site says, "While Hawaii’s natural beauty appeals to many, it hasn’t necessarily helped its employment landscape: The state has earned the distinction of worst state for making a living in all three years of this study. The chief culprit is the highest cost of living of any state, and a relatively high state tax burden compounds the problem. (Hawaii residents) do like their workplaces — the state ranked first in the poll on workplace environment — but economic factors still make this the toughest place for making a living."

Car accident disrupts 3,000 Oceanic users

Up to 3,000 homes and businesses near Heeia Kea pier on Kamehameha Highway suffered intermittent or degraded Internet and phone traffic outages Wednesday after an early morning traffic accident in the area.

Oceanic Time Warner Cable noticed the problem at 5:40 a.m. and started to dispatch personnel to the scene after tracing its fiber-optic cables for a location, but its crew was unable to begin work until the accident and crime scene were cleared later in the morning, according to Norman Santos, Oceanic’s vice president of operations.

"The accident and the fire that resulted from the accident managed to burn or melt Oceanic’s fiber and (coaxial) cable lines that run along Kamehameha Highway," Santos said. "Because the fiber cable was burned and fused together, we were experiencing high losses on the fiber that led to degraded Internet and phone traffic mainly on the Windward side but also in other areas of the island."

Santos said those fiber lines had to be replaced and respliced, and that work was completed by 5 p.m. that day. He said the result of the fiber repair was intermittent outages as the individual fibers were prepped for slicing and then subsequently spliced.

"The (coaxial) portion of the repair was completed by about 6 p.m., but this would have been a localized outage only for those few homes along Kamehameha Highway," Santos added.

On the Move 

Central Pacific Bank has promoted Norman Nakasone to vice president and product management manager. He has been with CPB since 1985 and was previously vice president and product delivery strategy manager, vice president and service quality manager, vice president and call center manager, and vice president and consumer banking manager.

ABC Stores Hawaii, Guam, Saipan and Las Vegas has promoted:

>> Eric Nakamoto to Maui district manager in charge of 11 ABC Stores on Maui. He was a store manager and human resources training specialist and started as a management trainee in 1982.

>> Clarence Coloma to executive chef of ABC Stores’ Island Gourmet Markets, Island County Markets, Island Deli and Central Kitchen. He started as a deli manager of Island Country Markets in 2009.

The Harold K.L. Castle Foundation has awarded $372,324 in grants to Malama Maunalua, $150,000; National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $85,500; Pacific American Foundation, $35,000; University of Hawaii Foundation, $41,244; Council on Foundations, $17,580; and $43,000 to Waimanalo Health Center and a public elementary school to provide dental services to Windward keiki.