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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, October 8, 2005

Maui condo prices soar

By Greg Wiles
Advertiser Staff Writer

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The median price for a condominium on Maui shot up to $425,600 last month, falling just short of a record set earlier this year. Single-family home prices on the Valley Isle also jumped from a year earlier.

The September condo resale price was up from $330,000 a year earlier, and approached the $430,000 record median price set in January as 137 transactions closed during the month, according to Realtors Association of Maui data.

Resort condo and single-family home sales continued to fuel the market as visitors bought second homes, said Roger Torres, broker in charge of Coldwell Banker Island Properties' West Maui office. He said Maui's ocean-view properties remain inexpensive compared to similar desirable properties in California locales.

"My feeling is we haven't begun to see high prices yet," Torres said. During the month the median price for a condominium in Maui's Wailea/Makena area increased to $1.29 million from $775,000 a year earlier.

Maui's condo prices have come close to doubling during the past two years. The island's single-family homes also have appreciated, though not at the same rate.

In September, the median Maui single-family home price was $689,750, down slightly from August, but up from $600,000 a year earlier.

The prices are higher than those in Honolulu, where the median condo transaction was $287,000 and $615,000 for single-family homes last month.

Median prices were not available for the Big Island or Kaua'i. Figures from Hawai'i Information Service show the number of home sales transactions were almost unchanged on the Big Island while the county's condo resales rose to 115, an almost 39 percent increase.

On Kaua'i the number of home and condominium sales rose by 40 percent and 35 percent respectively, according to Hawai'i Information Service.