Maui homes near $700,000
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
Million-dollar home sales jacked up the median price for houses on Maui last month to just shy of $700,000 — a statewide high that brokers expect could go higher.
The Realtors Association of Maui said the median price of previously owned single-family homes was $695,950 in April, up 36 percent from $512,500 a year earlier and up 10 percent from $635,000 in March.
"The market has gone crazy," said Gene Celebrado, a retired fire captain from Honolulu who recently bought a condo on Maui. "Where will it stop? Nobody knows."
Maui didn't even have the fastest price growth rate in the state last month. That honor went to Big Island condominium prices, which surged 73 percent.
Thomas Delmore of Delmore Realty on Maui isn't surprised at the prices people are paying.
"There's so much pressure on the market to make these things happen," he said. "I'm not shocked."
Delmore said some Mainland investors are paying cash for property, while other buyers are taking a chance on variable short-term interest rates as low as 2 percent or mortgages with no down payment to finance pricier and pricier home purchases.
Meeting the demand are sellers only happy to ask ever higher prices for their property. In fact, Delmore said that half of all Maui single-family homes listed for sale on the multiple listing service are priced at $1.1 million or more. One home is listed at $36.5 million.
The million-dollar homes typically take longer to sell than the less expensive inventory, but are helping bring new highs to the median price, a point at which half the sales are for more and half for less.
"It's incredible," Delmore said. "It's sort of like the dot-com investors buying stock in a company that doesn't have any earnings. I don't think it can hold."
Celebrado also expects prices eventually will become unsustainable, though for now he's enjoying the ride. As a test, he recently listed for sale a piece of Upcountry Maui property he bought five years ago, and received a sight-unseen offer for $1.5 million. Today, Celebrado figures the parcel would fetch $2 million if he wanted to sell.
"When the breaking point is going to happen, no one knows," he said.
Delmore said it's difficult to predict when prices will peak, but given the number of million-dollar properties on the market, the median price will likely continue to rise as long as there is strong demand from buyers.
The number of Maui single-family homes purchased last month was down 14 percent to 108, compared with 126 a year earlier.
Maui's condo market was less amplified, with the median price up 12 percent to $330,000 over $295,000 a year earlier. Condo transactions were down 3 percent to 211, compared with 217, in the same period.
The biggest price increase in April occurred on the Big Island, where a mid-priced condo sold for $397,450, or 73 percent more than $230,000 a year earlier, according to Hawaii Information Service.
The number of previously owned Big Island condos sold last month was up 18 percent to 118, compared with 100 a year earlier.
Big Island single-family homes sold last month for a median of $370,000, or 34 percent higher than the $276,000 median a year earlier. Resale volume was 247, up 10 percent from 225, during the same period.
On Kaua'i, the median single-family home price was $540,000 last month, up 14 percent from $475,000 a year earlier, Hawaii Information Service reported. Volume was down 9 percent to 63 sales vs. 69 during the same comparable period.
Kaua'i condos sold for a median of $418,000 in April, up 7 percent from $389,000 a year earlier. Volume was up 24 percent to 63 sales vs. 51 in the same period.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.
