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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Housing market declines on Hawaii Island, Kauai

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

This 1,700-square-foot house in the Hawaiian Paradise Park subdivision of Puna is listed for sale at $389,000 — close to the $386,000 median sale price for all previously owned single-family homes sold last month on the Big Island. The house was built on a 1-acre lot.

Clark Realty Corp.

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Big Island and Kaua'i home resales remained in line with the state's generally cooling housing market last month, with mostly lower sales and median prices on the two islands.

The biggest decline was in the condominium market on Kaua'i, where sales fell 40 percent to 27 in July compared with 45 during the same month last year, according to data released by Hawaii Information Service.

A dearth of condo purchases in Lihu'e was responsible for the dramatic swing, as only four condos sold in the area last month compared with 26 a year ago.

Because Lihu'e condo prices are at the low end of Kaua'i's market, the drop in sales worked to raise the island's overall median condo sale price by 20.5 percent to $575,000 last month from $477,181 a year earlier.

Also pushing the overall median sale price higher on Kaua'i was a rise in sales of more expensive Hanalei condos. There were 13 sales in the area, up from five a year earlier. The median condo price in Hanalei was $815,000 last month, up from $710,800 a year earlier.

The median price is a point at which half the sales were for more and half for less.

Kaua'i's single-family-home market was nearly flat with 33 sales last month, up from 32 a year earlier. The median price was $678,000, down 9 percent from $745,000 in the same comparable period.

On the Big Island, sales and prices were down for previously owned single-family homes and condos.

There were 150 single-family homes sold on the island last month, down 7.4 percent from 162 a year earlier.

The median price by region ranged from $174,450 in Ka'u to $759,500 in North Kohala, and for the island was $386,500, or 3.1 percent lower than $399,000 a year earlier.

Big Island condo sales were down 15.6 percent to 38 last month from 45 a year earlier. The median price by region ranged from $82,500 in South Hilo to $1.5 million in South Kohala, and for the island was $487,500, or down 5.8 percent from $517,533 a year earlier.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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