March was a turbulent month for housing markets on Hawaii island and Kauai.
Sales volumes and prices for homes sold last month were all over the place — up a little, down a little, up a lot and down a lot — according to statistics from Hawaii Island Realtors and the Kauai Board of Realtors released Sunday by Hawaii Information Service.
The smallest change occurred for the median sale price of single-family houses on Hawaii island, which ticked up 1 percent to $327,500 last month from $323,500 in the same month last year.
The median price for condos on Hawaii island also was fairly tame, rising 8 percent to $339,000 from $315,000 in the same period.
On Kauai, however, relatively few sales produced big spikes in median prices. For single-family houses the median price soared 72 percent to $967,500 last month from $562,500 a year earlier. Kauai’s condo median jumped 42 percent to $417,500 from $295,000.
The spikes appeared largely driven by the mix of homes sold as opposed to an inherent change in real estate values, according to the data.
For instance, there were 16 single-family houses sold in Kauai’s Hanalei region for a median $1.8 million last month, compared with 11 sales for $1.1 million a year earlier. In another part of Kauai, Lihue, there were three sales for a median $390,000 last month compared with seven sales for a median $445,000 a year earlier. Both areas contributed to Kauai’s overall median price rising because there were more high-end and fewer lower-end homes sold last month than a year ago.
The median price is a point at which half the sales were for more and half for less, so characteristics of sold homes — age, size, quality and location — can dramatically sway the calculation, expecially if relatively few sales are involved.
Overall sale volume on Kauai was light in March. There were 34 single-family house sales last month, down 26 percent from 46 sales a year earlier. The number of Kauai condo sales grew by one to 24 last month from 23 a year earlier.
Hawaii island sale volume also was mixed. There were 148 single-family house sales last month, up 6 percent from 140 a year earlier. Condo volume dropped 13 percent to 55 from 63 in the same period.
