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Maui median home price hits $632,000

Maui's residential real estate market is still hot, judging from the prices of house and condominium resales last month.

Half the houses sold last month on the Valley Isle went for more than $632,000, according to figures released yesterday by the Realtors Association of Maui. That's up 26.7 percent from last March's median price of $499,000.

The median price for a condominium hit $415,000, up 33.9 percent from the year-earlier $310,000.

While the number of condominium sales fell 12.9 percent from the year-earlier March, single-family home sales increased 5.5 percent.

Analyst initiates CPF coverage

Stock analyst Jacqueline Reeves of Ryan Beck & Co. has initiative coverage of Central Pacific Financial Corp. at "market perform," with a 12-month target price of $36.

The stock closed yesterday at $33.35, off a 52-week high of $38.79 set on Feb. 7.

Reeves also raised her rating on Bank of Hawaii Corp. to "outperform" from "market perform," and set a target of $52 a share.

Bank of Hawaii closed yesterday at $46.06, down from a 52-week high of $51.10 on Dec. 30.

Ex-AIG chief to take 5th Amendment

NEW YORK » The former chairman and CEO of embattled insurer American International Group Inc. isn't planning to answer questions from securities regulators in a deposition, citing his constitutional rights.

The decision by Maurice "Hank" Greenberg to invoke his Fifth Amendment right today came after regulators questioned billionaire investor Warren Buffett yesterday, in connection with federal and state probes of AIG.

"I told them everything I know," Buffett said afterward.

But Greenberg -- unlike Buffett, identified by regulators as a target of their investigation -- said he would not cooperate unless the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York attorney general's office narrowed the scope of their questions.