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Maui home prices looked like they were on fire in September based on a report released Thursday, though property values are likely more subdued than the report suggests.
The Realtors Association of Maui published data for home sales last month showing the median sale price for condominiums soared 35 percent to $465,000 from $345,000 a year earlier.
However, the jump appeared to have a lot to do with how a big drop in sales last month impacted the year-over-year median price change.
The number of condo sales fell 35 percent to 79 last month from 121 a year earlier. Most of that drop occurred in lower-priced areas of the Valley Isle, which helped produce a higher overall median price.
For instance, the Kihei area accounting for the most condo sales on Maui had 31 sales for a median $315,000 last month compared with 39 sales for a median $339,000 a year earlier.
In Maui’s single-family house market in September, the median price jumped 21 percent to $570,000 from $470,000 a year earlier while the number of sales rose 12 percent to 95 from 85.
Much of the median price gain was driven by more sales in more expensive parts of the island’s real estate market, including five sales in the Maui Meadows area for a median $1.1 million last month compared with no sales there a year earlier.
