Hawaii’s residential resort market suffers a case of the blahs

There was one spectacular sale for $41.8 million, but the market for residential real estate this year at Hawaii resorts lacked luster, according to a new report.

Fewer resort homes and residential lots sold during the first half of this year, while the average price was about flat compared with the same period last year, the report from local market researcher Ricky Cassiday of Data@Work said.

“In terms of market psychology, the market is drifting,” Cassiday said in the report.

The number of sales declined 7.8 percent to 670 this year through June, compared with 727 sales in the year-earlier period.

The average sale price was up a scant 0.2 percent — or $2,000 — to $1.249 million from $1.247 million.

Cassiday said part of the reason for the sluggish results this year is that developers are building relatively little new product.

“There is very little developer inventory,” he said, adding that the number of resort home properties on the market is down 10 percent on Kauai and 5 percent on Maui since the beginning of the year.

Most of Hawaii’s resort homes are on the neighbor islands at master-planned properties that include Mauna Kea Resort on Hawaii island, Kaanapali on Maui and Princeville on Kauai.

Cassiday said developers that are building new homes or residential lots for sale are typically doing well. He mentioned PiliMai at Poipu and Kukui‘ula on Kauai as examples.

PiliMai, a project by Brookfield Homes Hawaii with 191 condominiums starting in the $600,000s, was designed before the 2008 Great Recession and got put on hold. Cassiday said sales have gone well with buyers signing contracts for 12 of 26 available units since construction began at the beginning of this year.

Kukui‘ula, a project by Alexander & Baldwin Inc. planned for 1,200 homes on 1,010 acres between Poipu and Lawai Valley on Kauai’s southern shore, gradually has rebounded since 2010 after A&B suspended sales efforts in 2009. The company reported earlier this month that it sold eight residential lots for an average $1.1 million and one house for $2.9 million, or $11.7 million in all, during the first half of this year.

Chris Benjamin, A&B president, said in a conference call with stock market analysts earlier this month that A&B expects to complete about $40 million in Kukui‘ula lot and home sales in the second half of this year.

A&B has stepped up construction to meet what Benjamin termed “positive momentum” in buyer demand, and is adding a subdivision called Kainani at the resort with 24 house lots and a 20-unit condominium on 26 acres with ocean views.

The biggest single Hawaii resort home sale this year through June was a 4-year-old custom luxury estate in Wailea, Maui, that sold for $41.8 million. The sale of the 6,737-square-foot main house and 1,004-square-foot secondary dwelling on 4 acres in the Keauhou at Makena subdivision was the most expensive ever for a residence on Maui.

The average price for all resort home sales on Maui was $1.7 million in the first half of this year, up from $1.5 million last year. There were 209 Maui sales, down from 260 a year earlier.

On Hawaii island the average sale price was $1.4 million, down from $1.5 million. There were 211 sales, down from 221 a year earlier.

The average price on Kauai was $765,631, up from $758,729. Kauai sale volume was 181 units, down from 220.

Oahu’s average price was $665,232, down from $745,150. There were 71 Oahu sales, up from 56 a year earlier.