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The new “travel declaration form” that will be given to all arriving airline passengers may enlighten officials beyond the hopes of lawmakers who demanded it. Arrivals will have to provide the address of their lodgings and confirmation information so tourism staff can follow up.
This means checking on the traveler’s adherence to the 14-day quarantine, of course. But in many cases it also will add an entry to the listing of vacation rentals — not all of them legal, of course. Very helpful.
Clouds on real estate horizon
Despite incentives for home-buying due to mortgage interest rates dropping to new lows, a coronavirus-related squeeze on sales is expected to continue. A just-released report issued by the Honolulu Board of Realtors shows that resales of Oahu homes in April fell more than 20%, though median prices were up modestly — single-family homes sold for a median $809,000.
A forecast for market challenges is a sure bet because of lag time. Sales reported in a given month can reflect signed agreements made one to three months before settling matters such as mortgage qualification. And we know hurt from the economic shutdown has only just begun.
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