Kauai, Big Isle home prices rebound but still shy of records

Housing markets on Hawaii island and Kauai largely extended a median price rebound for a fourth consecutive year in 2015, though sale prices have yet to come close to lofty records set in 2006 and 2007.

The generally positive trend for prices occurred as more homes were sold in all segments of the two neighbor island markets, according to data from the Hawaii Island Realtors and Kauai Board of Realtors trade associations released Tuesday by Hawaii Information Service.

There was one exception to the price appreciation: condominiums on Hawaii island. This piece of the market has been more choppy, with median prices slipping a little twice in the past four years following larger gains in the immediately preceding years.

Broadly, Hawaii island and Kauai home prices are still recovering from steep declines that occurred from 2009 to 2011 in the aftermath of the Great Recession and hit the two housing markets harder than Oahu, where median prices in 2015 are poised to set a record for a third consecutive year.

Some of the changes in the two neighbor island markets appear more volatile, but that can be due to relatively few sales and a bigger number of luxury vacation homes in resort areas sold, which can swing the median price.

The median is a point at which half the sales were for a higher price and half for a lower price.

One example of such a swing was shown in the median price for single-family homes sold on Kauai in December. The median price was $580,000 last month, down 34 percent from $875,000 in the same month the year before. The big drop was driven by homes in the Koloa region, which includes the Poipu resort area, where there were 10 sales last month for a median $692,000 compared with seven sales in the year-earlier month for a median $1.4 million.

For all of last year, the biggest price gain for the two neighbor islands happened in Kauai’s single-family home market, where the median sale price rose 15 percent to $615,000 from $533,000 a year earlier. The record is $675,000 in 2006.

There were 485 Kauai single-family home sales last year, up 4 percent from 467 the year before.

Kauai condos sold for a median $360,000 last year, up 5 percent from $344,500 the year before. That was based on 367 sales compared with 330. The median price peak for Kauai condos is $565,000 in 2007.

On Hawaii island the median price for single-family homes rose 4 percent last year to $328,500 from $315,000. This segment of the two neighbor island markets is the biggest, with 2,005 sales last year, up 6 percent from 1,884 sales the year before. The record median price for single-family homes on the island is $421,000 in 2006.

For condos on Hawaii island, the median sale price slipped 2 percent to $275,000 last year based on 651 sales from $280,000 the year before based on 645 sales. The record is $426,498 in 2006.