Big Isle home sales rebound; Kauai comes up short

Hawaii island’s housing market finally saw a rebound in sales in September following five straight months of fewer transactions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Kauai, meanwhile, fell a bit short of a similar turnaround despite improvement.

The changes in activity for the two neighbor island housing markets were presented in data from Hawaii Island Realtors and Kauai Board of Realtors trade associations released by Hawaii Information Service.

On Hawaii island, sale volume for single-family homes surged 46% to 247 in September from 169 in the same month last year.

Condo sales on Hawaii island edged up 3% to 63 last month from 61 a year earlier.

The gains followed major year-over-year declines for Big Isle home sales that mainly ranged from 16% to 44% from April to August. The only exception to that was a 1% dip in August for single-family home sales.

On Kauai, sales came close to achieving a rebound last month. There were 48 single-family home sales last month, 6% short of the 51 sales a year earlier. Condo sale volume also was down 6% at 30 last month compared with 32 a year earlier.

From April to August, residential real estate sale volume declines on Kauai ranged from 18% to 65%.

Median prices on both islands in September were up from a year earlier, though this measure is less meaningful because relatively few sales are involved and the trade associations count sales of both new and previously owned homes.

The median price is a point at which half the sales were for a higher price and half were for a lower price, so the age, size, location and quality of homes influences the measure.

Single-family homes on Hawaii island sold for a median $420,000 in September, up 7% from $393,750 a year earlier. The condo median was $410,000, up 16% from $354,500.

Kauai’s median price for single­-family home sales was $815,000 last month, up 33% from $615,000 a year earlier. The Kauai condo median sale price was $597,500 last month, up 17% from $510,000 a year earlier.