The real estate markets on Kauai and Hawaii island were mixed in December
as sales and median prices diverged.
On Kauai, the median price for a single-family home dropped 14.9 percent to $587,500 from $690,000
in the year-earlier period while condominium prices soared 37.5 percent to $550,000 from $400,000,
according to data released Friday from Hawaii Information Service. Sales were flat to down as the number of single-family homes sold dropped 23.6 percent to
42 from 55 while condo sales held steady at 41 for both periods.
For Hawaii island, the
median price for single-family homes jumped 19.1 percent to $339,500 from $285,000 while condo prices slipped 2.4 percent to $288,000, from $295,000.
Sales for single-family homes on the Big Island slipped 3.4 percent to
202 from 209 while condo sales increased 13.6 percent to 67 from 59.
The median price is a point at which half the
sales were at a higher price and half at a lower price.
On the neighbor islands, large median price gains don’t necessarily reflect such a change in inherent real estate values because relatively few sales make
it easy to have major swings in the median price. The median also can be
affected by the age, size, quality and location of homes sold.
Also, the neighbor island real estate agent trade
associations include both previously owned homes and new homes in their report, which can affect median prices significantly when large numbers of new homes are sold.
For the year, the median price for single-family homes on Kauai was $660,000, up 5.5 percent from $625,500 in 2016.
The price for condos rose 9.2 percent to $435,000 from $398,250.
On Hawaii island, the median price for single-family homes for the year increased 6.1 percent to $350,000 from $330,000 while condos increased just 1.6 percent to $310,000 from $305,000.
