Hawaii Real Estate Resource

The chart below is an update to my September post. 

With over a year of of decreasing inventory, it's clear that Kauai's real estate inventory is continuing to recover from August 2008 highs.  It's rarely possible to discern trends until sufficient time has elapsed to look back and see where we have been.  For Kauai, the inventory buildup began in the Fall of 2005 and continued to build for 3 years.  Now the number of active listings has been decreasing for a full year.  This is a positive sign for stressed-out sellers.  While I expect some time to elapse before prices also begin a recovery, now may be the "sweet spot" for buyers especially since many predict that mortgage rates will soon begin to increase. 

For those who want to know, the smooth yellow curve superimposed on the chart is an Excel 3rd-order polynomial curve fit.

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Because of wide fluctuations in monthly sales, the absorption rates for the different regions on Kauai continues to fluctuate.  But one thing remains consistent and that is that everything is still in the RED band(not pretty).  Kauai remains an island in paradise and also a buyer's paradise.  Our sellers will be very pleased once those bars start dropping into the other color bands.  Many agents will be pleased as well.

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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.comfor Hawaii real estate information 

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I'm entertaining a mainland visitor and enjoying some of the sights often overlooked as a Maui resident.  This photo is of the observatories atop Haleakala, nearly 2 miles up. 

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.comfor Hawaii real estate information 

Kauai and Muai year-to-date sales statistics through October 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 show that this continues to be an unprecedented opportunity for buyers. Selection is huge and prices are down substantially There remains a large amount of inventory to be cleared out before downward price pressures ease. An upturn in number of sales is key to that and there are hints that this may now be happening. Some economists think we may be at or near the bottom of the cycle.

This Month's Update

Year-to-Date Median Sales Price (Jan-October 2009)

Year-to-Date Number of Sales (Jan-October 2009)

One of the most striking differences between the Kauai and Maui markets is condo sales (both numbers and prices).  It has been my "soft" observation that some new construction on Maui has continued through the downturn while most has stopped on Kauai and this data adds support to this.

[Data extracted from Kauai and Maui multiple list reports. Data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should not be relied on for buying or selling decisions. There are likely to be differing opinions and interpretations of the data.]

Aloha & Mahalo!

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

Kauai home sales statistics have been released for the month of October 2009. The figures are island-wide comparisons of current sales versus year ago periods. Monthly values fluctuate widely and I've always preferred to use year-to-date data to average out the fluctuations. Nevertheless, it's hard to overlook the huge improvement in October sales.

It's important to keep in mind that the data reflects what is actually selling and not necessarily a change in value of a particular property. In my experience investor purchases tend to be in higher-priced resort areas whereas owner-occupant purchases tend to be more focused in value-priced areas. My buyer clients today are much more heavily weighted toward owner-occupant than in previous years when investors dominated. More sales in value-priced areas and fewer in higher-priced resort areas will drive median sales prices down. Of course the number of sales speak for themselves although here again, an absence of investor sales will drive the numbers down.

Number of Sales

 Median Sales Price

Additional breakdown of this information is available to my clients upon request.

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 

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Small park in the Kehalani Mauka community nestled on the slopes of the West Maui Mountains.  Terraced terrain gives many of the homes unobstructed views of the city below with ocean beyond.

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.comfor Hawaii real estate information 

NEWS FLASH--Maui Land & Pineapple Company has just announced that they are shutting down pineapple operations on Maui by the end of the year. 

Maui Land & Pineapple Company has been sustaining heavy losses for many years and was unable to define a viable plan to continue operations.  Several hundred workers will lose their jobs and fresh Maui-grown pineapples will be a thing of the past except for some small farmers.  The island of Oahu went through this last year when Del Monte abruptly stopped pineapple production.  Dole still produces pineapple on Oahu but has significantly scaled back operations over the years.

Agriculture is taking a heavy hit throughout Hawaii.  Just last week Kauai ended their sugar cane operations after harvesting their final crop (see my post HERE).  For now, sugar is still a big crop on Maui and thousands of acres of it greet incoming passengers who pass over the valley fields prior to landing.

Tourists can still get fresh Hawaiian pineapple to take back to the mainland.  But those wanting to do so would be wise to visit now rather than later.

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.comfor Hawaii real estate information