Maui condo sales, prices take a dive; houses less so
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
| |||
Sales and prices of previously owned Maui condominiums fell hard last month, and the single-family home market also declined, but less sharply, as concerns of economic uncertainty depressed residential real estate on the Valley Isle.
Maui condo sales fell 43 percent to 48 in September from 84 in the same month last year. The median price sank to $388,500 — down 35 percent from $599,000 a year earlier and the lowest for any month since August 2005.
However, September's median price appeared to be largely a factor of a lower proportion of sales in high-end resort areas, according to the sales data released by the Realtors Association of Maui.
For instance, there was one sale at Kapalua for $1.4 million last month compared with three sales for a combined $10 million a year earlier. Sales at Kapalua, Ka'anapali and Wailea/Makena, where median prices are often $1 million or more, represented 21 percent of the total on Maui last month, down from 30 percent a year earlier.
Still, median prices fell in other parts of the island, including Central Maui and Napili/Kahana/Honokowai. In Maui's largest condo submarket, Kihei, the median price on 19 sales was $350,000 last month, down from $477,400 on 38 sales a year ago.
Terry Tolman, chief executive of the Realtors Association of Maui, noted that the relatively small size of Maui's real estate volume makes it easy for median prices to be skewed by a few additional or fewer sales at the high or low end. But economic uncertainties also appear to be weighing on the results.
Single-family home sales last month were down 12 percent to 65 from 74 a year earlier. The median price was down 9 percent to $535,000 from $586,000.
For the first nine months of the year, the market's performance wasn't as weak. Condo sales fell 27 percent to 672 from 916 in the same period last year, while the median price was up 7 percent to $570,000 from $533,163.
Single-family home sales this year through September were down 21 percent to 706 from 893, while the median price was down 7 percent to $594,500 from $639,891.
Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.