Posted on: Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Home prices break records
| • | December home resales |
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sales of previously owned homes on the Neighbor Islands slowed in the final month of last year, though prices were mostly higher compared with December 2003.
December capped a wild ride for residential real estate last year on Maui, the Big Island and Kaua'i where prices rose between 20 percent and 50 percent to break records, but worked with tight inventory to depress sales volume in some markets.
Prices rose most sharply on the Big Island, where single-family homes sold for a record median of $350,500 in December, up 50 percent from $234,000 recorded a year earlier, according to statistics released yesterday by Hawaii Information Service. The median is a point where half the sales prices are higher and half lower.
Median condominium prices on the Big Island were up 63 percent to $324,500 compared with $199,000 in the same period a year earlier.
Sales volume on the Big Island dropped, with single-family home resales falling 11 percent to 207, compared with 232 in December 2003. There were 62 condo resales, a 32 percent drop from 91 a year earlier.
Susan Decker, president and principal broker of Lentz Real Estate Inc. in Kailua, Kona, on the Big Island, attributed the December slowdown to people taking four-day weekend holidays to cover Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve because they fell on Fridays.
"It got kind of quiet," she said. "It was like we lost two weeks."
Decker predicted that this year will mirror 2004 with tight inventory and more buyers than sellers. "I think 2005 will still be a really strong sellers' market," she said.
On Maui, the median price for previously owned single-family homes sold in December was $594,500, a 15 percent increase from $515,000 a year earlier, according to the Realtors Association of Maui. The number of resales fell 31 percent to 100 compared with 144 during the same period.
Maui condos sold for a median price of $350,000 last month, up 30 percent from $269,000 a year earlier. Volume was down 41 percent to 99 compared with 169 in the same period.
Single-family homes on Kaua'i sold for a median of $575,000 last month, up 30 percent from $441,000 a year earlier, Hawaii Information Service reported. Volume was down 13 percent to 47 from 54 during the same period.
Kaua'i condos sold for a median of $299,500 last month, down 8 percent from $325,000 a year earlier. Volume was down 42 percent to 25 compared with 43 during the same period.
For all of 2004 compared with 2003, single-family home median prices were up 23 percent to $289,500 on the Big Island, up 35 percent to $495,000 on Kaua'i and up 25 percent to $550,000 on Maui.
Median condo prices in 2004 were up 50 percent to $270,000 on the Big Island, up 31 percent to $375,000 on Kaua'i and up 28 percent to $310,000 on Maui.
Volume was mixed in 2004, as single-family home resales were up 19 percent to 2,698 on the Big Island, up 5 percent to 697 on Kaua'i but down 14 percent to 1,221 on Maui.
Condo volume rose 15 percent to 1,076 on the Big Island, but was down 3 percent to 518 on Kaua'i and down 3 percent to 1,933 on Maui.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
