Hawaii Real Estate Resource

I hope all the ActiveRainers had a wonderful Christmas.  Hawaii had a white Christmas this year due to a storm that hit the Big Island.  While it's common for Mauna Loa to get snow in the winter, this time both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea received snow.  Here is a time-lapse video taken from one of the observatories.  I imagine the skiers will be out today.

Video

Next up, New Years celebrations!

Aloha!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website| Phone/Text    (808) 651-4550   

  Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.com for Hawaii real estate information 

[Information herein is based on 3rd party reports that are deemed reliable but content is not guaranteed]

The updated Kauai real estate inventory chart is presented below.  The 3+ year climb may have resumed as shown in the chart.  The dip in early November was hopeful but as I always say "one month does not a trend make".  Nevertheless, we may be starting to flatten out and another few months will give a better picture on that.  Unfortunately, the Koloa/Poipu area on Kauai's south shore continues to climb without a break.  This is likely because of the high concentration of condos in Poipu which normally attract mainland buyers.  Those buyers have been conspicuously absent, both as measure in real estate sales and in tourism.  Todays lower prices and ultra-low interest rates should start to make some of these properties irresistable.

Aloha!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.com for Hawaii real estate information 

The December absorption rate chart for the island of Kauai is posted herein.  Clearly the supply of homes and condos continues to far exceed a healthy rate of sales for most island zones.  The one exception is the central zone of Lihue which is comparatively HOT with less than a 1 year supply of homes.  This exception has continued throughout the year and I would classify it as more than an anomoly at this point.  Clearly the Lihue area has a relatively high demand for homes compared to what's available.  I still don't have anything other than guesses about the reason.  Perhaps there is a shift to living "close-in" to the center of commerce because of high gas prices, or access to island amenities, or maybe both.

How quickly our reference point changes however because we would have thought a year's supply was awful in the feverish seller's market of yore.  I first started tracking this data in February 2007 which will soon be 2 years ago.  I have contrasted current and "back then" data with the sid-by-side charts below.  When I first started, the different color bands were obvious without a magnifying glass.  Today, almost everything is well within the red zone.  Perhaps Business Week needs to rewrite their 2006 article with now bands of what is acceptable.  If not that, then at least what is the norm.

Current absorption rate on left and ~2 years ago on right

I've had a request to show how these color-band charts are prepared.  If there is additional interest, I will do my best to map out some time to describe the steps.

Aloha!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.com for Hawaii real estate information 

HAWAII HAS NEW JET SERVICE!

In a previous post, I had mentioned that there was going to be a new entrant into the Hawaii interisland jet service market.  Republic Airlines has signed an agreement with our local Mokulele Airline to bring the Embraer 170 Regional Jet to Hawaii.  There are now 2 aircraft in service and I had the pleasure of flying on one of them today. 

The jet seats 70 passengers but today there were only 2 of us for a very unique flying experience.  We were directed to the vacant first class area which easily has the most comfortable seats I've experienced.  Windows are unusually wide and positioned at just the right height.  It seats 2 on each side except in first class which is 1 + 2 meaning there are no middle seats.  We were offered soft drinks, water, juice, and coffee.  The other airlines offer only water and sometimes juice.  The plane was brand new and looked it.  Not only was the flight itself comfortable but the 1 piece of checked luggage (mine) was on the conveyor belt before I could walk to baggage claim.

Brazil has a real winner with this aircraft and so does Mokulele Airlines.  It's size seems just right for interisland service fitting in between the small Go Airlines jet and the larger Hawaiian Airlines jet.  Service is not yet offered to Maui but I would guess that will be added next year when they expand their fleet from 2 to 4 aircraft.   

Aloha and happy flying when you come to visit Hawaii!

Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550

 Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.com for Hawaii real estate information

November sales statistics from the Kauai & Maui MLS systems have been released and are presented in the tables below.  Median sales prices on the two islands continue to be similar except for vacant land which jumped substantially on Maui.  The number of sales on Maui are substantially higher (except for vacant land) and exceeds what one would expect solely on the population ratio of 2.2 to 1.  Prices on the two islands continue to hold up fairly well (and in some cases are up) although the number of sales have taken a huge hit.

Keep in mind that the data is as reported by agents and reflects what has sold.  This is not the same as the change in value of an individual property.  Data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should not be relied on for buying or selling decisions.

Median Sales Price (Year-To-Date November 2008)

Number of Sales (Year-To-Date November 2008) 

Aloha!

 Search Kauai/Big Island | Search Maui | Email | About Me | Visit Website | Phone/Text (808) 651-4550

 Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers

Visit www.KauaiRocks.com for Hawaii real estate information