Condo transactions surge 43% on Big Isle

Condominium sales in resort areas produced a surge in Hawaii island’s housing market last month, though the rest of the market on that island as well as on Kauai saw small changes.

Hawaii Information Service released data Thursday for residential property sales in May on the two neighbor islands which included a 43 percent jump in the number of Hawaii island condo sales.

There were 70 condos sold on Hawaii island in May, up from 49 in the same month last year.

The data showed that most of the gain occurred in the South Kohala area, where the number of condo sales jumped to 26 last month from 12 a year earlier. Sales in North Kona, another area developed with resorts, had 42 condo sales, which was up from 30 in the same period.

The median price for all Hawaii island condos sold last month was $332,500, up 14 percent from $291,500 a year earlier.

In Hawaii island’s single-family house market, the number of sales slipped 4 percent to 157 in May from 164 in the same month last year. The median price declined 7 percent to $278,500 from $300,000.

On Kauai the number of sales rose by five for both single-family houses and condos while median prices rose by a few percentage points.

There were 47 single-family house sales on the Garden Island last month, up from 42 a year earlier. The median price edged up 2 percent to $530,000 from $519,500.

For condos on Kauai there were 35 sales last month compared with 30 a year earlier. The median price, which is a point at which half the sales were for more and half for less, rose 6 percent to $385,000 from $364,750.