Maui leads home sales among neighbor islands

Housing markets on the neighbor islands last month were positive for single-family homes but negative for condominiums in terms of sales, but the opposite was mostly true for median prices, new reports show.

Sales of single-family homes rose on Maui and Kauai in February compared with the same month last year, and remained unchanged on Hawaii island, according to reports from the Realtors Association of Maui and Hawaii Information Service.

The strongest gain occurred on Maui, where 77 single-family homes sold last month, up 31 percent from 59 sales a year earlier.

Kauai also posted a strong statistical increase, though the number of transactions accounting for the rise was relatively small. There were 34 single-family homes sold last month on the Garden Isle, up 26 percent from 27 a year earlier.

On Hawaii island, the number of single-family home sales was unchanged at 113 last month and year earlier.

Condo sales on Maui decreased 19 percent to 79 sales last month from 98 a year earlier. Kauai condo sales were down 17 percent to 20 from 24 in the same period. And Hawaii island condo sales fell 31 percent to 37 from 54.

Median prices on the three islands were mixed, and included one wild gain. However, with relatively few sales involved, movement in median prices can be inordinately influenced by the mix — including quality, size and age — of homes as opposed to inherent property values.

The big jump occurred in Kauai condo sales, where the median price soared 116 percent to $312,500 last month from $144,500 a year earlier.

Data from Hawaii Information showed that the biggest impact of the gain stemmed from condos sold in two parts of the island. In Lihue, there were eight sales for a median $262,500 last month compared with 11 sales for a median $65,000 a year earlier. In Hanalei, there were seven sales for a median $530,000 last month compared with three sales for a median $281,000 a year earlier.

The median is a point at which half the sales were for more and half for less.

In Kauai’s single-family home market, the median sale price declined 29 percent to $427,000 last month from $600,000 a year earlier. The decline was largely driven by sales in the resort areas of Koloa and Hanalei.

For instance, in Koloa there were 12 sales for a median $427,250 last month compared with nine sales for a median $825,000 a year earlier. In Hanalei, 10 homes sold last month for a median $962,500 compared with seven sales for a median $1.8 million a year earlier.

On Maui, the median price for condos fell about the same amount as the single-family home price rose. The median condo price dropped 23 percent to $287,000 last month from $371,200 a year earlier. For single-family homes, the median rose 22 percent to $535,000 last month from $440,000 a year earlier.

Hawaii island had the smallest changes in median prices, the Hawaii Information report showed. The median condo price was up 6 percent to $257,500 last month from $242,500 a year earlier, while the single-family home median price was down 10 percent to $235,000 from $262,000 in the same period.

HOME SALES
The number of homes sold on Hawaii island in February with the median price and percentage change from the same month last year:

The number of homes sold on Kauai in February with the median price and percentage change from the same month last year:

Source: Hawaii Information Service