Resort-home sales estimated at $1.5B

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Buyers of homes within Hawai'i vacation resorts bought an estimated $1.5 billion of property last year, according to a market analysis released yesterday.

Local real-estate consultant Ricky Cassiday made the projection based on sales data compiled for the first nine months of the year, during which vacation-home buyers purchased $1.1 billion of new and previously owned homes at master-planned resort communities such as Ko Olina, Wailea and Hualalai.

The nine-month sales volume was up 17 percent to 1,523 homes, while the average price was down 7 percent to $739,230, resulting in a 9 percent rise in total revenue.

Cassiday said buyers are primarily West Coast residents ranging in age from their late 40s to 60s and finding Hawai'i resort property reasonably priced compared with Mainland second-home markets.

The most expensive property was bought for $13.4 million. Based on full-year estimates, it was one of more than 100 purchases of more than $2 million. Almost 1,000 homes, most of them condominiums, sold for less than $250,000.

Maui was the biggest resort-home market based on the nine-month data, with 526 sales at an average price of $822,193. Sales volume was down 3 percent, and prices were up 18 percent.

Kaua'i sales were up 32 percent to 493 at an average price that rose 30 percent to $563,845.

On the Big Island, volume was up 34 percent to 364 sales at an average price of $959,216, which was down 42 percent.

There were 139 resort-home sales on O'ahu at an average price of $473,151, with respective increases of 38 percent and 31 percent.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.