Posted on: Thursday, December 25, 2003
Condo prices up 88% on Kaua'i
| • | Chart: Neighbor Islands home resales for November |
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Buyers and sellers of existing condominiums on Kaua'i last month pushed up prices by nearly double, a stunning gain that may also be the largest for the state's real estate market this year.
The median-price jump — an 88 percent increase to $385,000 from $204,445 — was by far the biggest among the latest home resale statistics from the Big Island and Kaua'i released by Hawai'i Information Service.
Prices and sales volumes in the report were higher overall, except for the number of Big Island condos resold and the median price for a single-family home on Kaua'i. But the Kaua'i condo figure stood out.
"It's a little scary," said Rick Emens, broker-in-charge at Coldwell Banker Bali Hai Realty Inc. in Hanalei. "Some of the prices I'm seeing — 20- to 25-year-old condos selling at $350,000, $375,000 — I'm shocked. It's a lack of inventory."
Emens said a significant number of newer high-end condos fronting the ocean or golf courses boosted November's condo resale price median, which is a point where half the sales were higher and half were lower.
Some recently built condos at Princeville Resort bought from the developer in the mid- to high-$400,000s are being resold by first owners for half a million dollars or more, Emens said.
The Kaua'i condo median resale price was so high that the median resale price for a single-family home was less. The single-family median last month was $342,000, down 9 percent from $375,000 in November 2002, according to Hawai'i Information.
The number of Kaua'i condo resales was up 20 percent, to 42 from 35 for the year-over-year period. Kaua'i single-family home resales rose 29 percent, to 58 from 45 for the same period.
On the Big Island, prices were up substantially. The median condo resale price was $215,000 last month, up 42 percent from $151,900 in November 2002. Existing single-family homes resold at a median of $275,000, up 38 percent from $200,000 during the same period.
The number of Big Island single-family home resales rose 5 percent last month to 162 from 155 in the year-ago month. There were 54 Big Island condo resales, down 2 percent from 55 during the same period.
Maui resale data from the Realtors Association of Maui was not available yesterday.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
