Puna home sales slow market slightly

Prices for homes sold on Hawaii island and Kauai in June were mostly higher compared with a year earlier, according to data released Thursday.

The priciest home sales were on Kauai where single- family residences sold for a median $752,500 last month. That was up 7 percent from $702,500 12 months earlier.

On Hawaii island the median sale price for single- family residences was $384,000 in June, up 9 percent from $351,250 in the same month last year.

The median price is a point at which half the sales were for more and half for less. This measure is influenced by the location, size, age and quality of homes.

Sales data were reported by Hawaii Information Serv­ice on behalf of the Kauai Board of Realtors and Hawaii Island Realtors. The trade associations count sales of new and previously owned homes completed in June, which typically involves sales contracts signed one to three months earlier.

There were 54 single- family home sales on Kauai. That was unchanged from a year earlier. The number of Hawaii island single-family home sales edged down 2 percent to 221 last month from 226 a year earlier.

The small decrease in Hawaii island single-family home sales was influenced by a major decline in the Puna district where homes in four subdivisions have been destroyed by lava since May. There were 61 single-family home sales in Puna last month, down 25 percent from 81 sales a year earlier. The median price for those Puna homes was $269,000 last month compared with $200,000 a year earlier.

Sales of vacant residential lots also were dramatically lower in Puna. The number of these transactions sank 44 percent to 67 last month from 120 a year earlier. The median price for these parcels was $19,000 last month compared with $23,000 a year earlier.

For condominiums the median sale price on Kauai surged 39 percent to $599,000 in June from $430,000 a year earlier. There were 71 Kauai condo sales last month, up 39 percent from 51 sales a year earlier.

Kauai’s median condo sale price jump was largely driven by sales in the Koloa area, which includes resorts in Poipu. There were 27 Koloa condos that sold for a median $728,748 last month compared with 10 sales for a median $590,000 a year earlier. In Lihue there were 24 condo sales for a median $316,000 last month compared with 14 sales for a median $281,500 a year earlier.

On Hawaii island the median condo sale price slipped 2 percent to $362,500 in June from $368,750 a year earlier. The number of sales dipped 4 percent to 79 from 82 in the same period.