Hawaii Real Estate Resource

Newsflash

It has been announced that the Hawaii Superferry is suspending all operations immediately and laying off its employees this Friday.  Customers with reservations have been promised refunds.  Cancellation is not due to lack of business but rather a battle waged in the courts by Superferry opponents.  On Monday, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in favor of the opponents making continued operation not possible.

Opposing the Superferry were the Sierra Club, and an organization of residents concerned about a delayed Environmental Impact Statement.  It is my understanding that Hawaii State Senator, Gary Hosier supported their positon as well.

In favor of Superferry was Governor Lingle and many of the users including business owners using it to ship goods among the islands.  Business owners found the service to be more economical than shipping by air, especially given the availablity of ship power to run their refrigeration units.  Shipping will now go by air or where speed of delivery is not critical, by barge.  Residents traveling between the islands will need to rent cars at their destination instead of taking their own which will increase business at the rental car companies.

Superferry officials have not announced what they will do with the Alakai which was built especially for Hawaii interisland service.  Neither is it known how the state will recoup its investment in harbor infrastructure which was supposed to have been repaid by Superferry.  Employees will be seeking new jobs at an awkward time given Hawaii's high unemployment rate.

In August 2007, I posted a first-hand account of travel on the Superferry HERE.

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

Open house announcement for Kauai residents & visitors

This is an invitation to those on Kauai to stop by my Hanapepe open house today, Sunday March 15 from 1 to 3 PM.  Feel free to come alone or bring your clients.  Refreshments provided.

The address is 4764-B Ali'i Road in Hanapepe Heights and its easy to find. 

• Take Kaumauali'i Highway West to Hanapepe. 
• At Hanapepe's only stoplight, turn right on Moi Road. 
• Proceed through the stop sign and up the hill to the 2nd right on Ali'i Road. 
• The home is 1 block away on the right and you can park on the shoulder.

Priced at $499K, this home is in the under $500K price group that's currently "hot" on Kauai.

 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

A client asked me about the number of short sales in Kauai which made me realize I didn't know other than it was too many.  So, I took a look at our MLS data and summarized the data in the chart below.  It's not absolutely accurate due to the gymnastics needed to search the data but it should be a reasonable indicator.  It's interesting to see that condos are nearly twice that of residential.

[Clarification--this data is for active listings, not sales]

What percentage is short sales in your area?

As always, I advise keeping in mind that the data is as entered by agents.  Due to data search limitations, the charts are only approximate and should not be relied on for buying or selling decisions.

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

February sales statistics are now available for both Maui and Kauai.  I have fewer reservations in presenting the figures than I did at the end of January when sample sizes were so small that I questioned how meaningful they were.  It would appear that the Maui market is holding up better than Kauai in terms of what price range is selling but the decline in the number of sales are similar.

It is my sense that there has been a shift away from mainland buyers who typically buy the higher-priced properties to Hawaii residents buying less expensive properties for their personal residence.  This may be a more valid observation on Kauai than on Maui.

Here is the YTD data through February 2009 compared to the same period in 2008.  I previously posted Kauai statistics HERE before Maui statistics were availalbe.  That post contains February-only data in addition to year-to-date values herein.

 YTD Median Sales Price (Jan-Feb 2009)

 YTD Number of Sales (Jan-Feb 2009) 

As always, I advise keeping in mind that the data is as reported by agents and reflects what has sold, not 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.  My opinions are my own and there are likely to be different opinions and interpretations of the data.

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

Kauai Sales Statistics For February 2009

Kauai home sales statistics have been released for the month of February 2009 and a summary for residential and condominium properties is presented below.  The figures are island-wide comparisons of current sales versus year ago sales.  Today's high-anxiety environment will drive some to look at data draw conclusions which may or may not be correct.  In my experience, monthly values fluctuate widely and I've always preferred to use year-to-date data to average out the fluctuations.  Since we only have data through February, even year-to-date data are based on a small number of 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.

Number of Sales

Median Sales Price

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

 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

[Data extracted from MLS reports.  Information contained herein is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed.  Buying & selling decisions should be made in consultation with a real estate professional and not on representations herein.  Opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my brokerage.]

There is a major shift underway in the Kauai residential market and that is toward the sale of lower-priced homes in the $250K to $500K bracket (yes, in Hawaii that is on the lower end of our pricing scale).  As the charts below show, this trend was slight until 2008 when it jumped to over 1/3 of all sales.  And in the first 2 months of this year that segment has nearly doubled to 2/3 of all sales.

I have seen this in my own listings as well where moderate and high-priced homes languish while lower-priced homes get all the action.  I have a beautiful, brand new home priced at $745K and the phone rarely rings while one priced just under $500K gets multiple showings each week.  My assessment is that mainland buyers with deep pockets are sitting on the sidelines while the resident population is buying.  I'm pleased to be part of helping our residents realize their dreams of home ownership.

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 contained herein is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed.  Buying & selling decisions should be made in consultation with a real estate professional and not on representations herein.  Opinions are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my brokerage.]