Big Isle, Kauai home sales fall as prices rise
Real estate transaction data from the Big Island and Kauai for February showed a decline in the number of homes changing hands, but higher prices for those that did, the Hawaii Information Service reported.
Altogether on the Big Island, 135 single-family homes were sold in February, a 22 percent decline from the same month a year ago. Meantime, 48 condominiums were sold, a 36 percent drop from the same month a year ago.
At the same time, home prices rose, suggesting continued healthy demand on the Big Island. The median price for a single-family home on the Big Island was $421,000, a 17 percent increase over the $360,000 chalked up in February 2005, and also above January 2006's median of $392,450.
The average condo, meanwhile, fetched $605,000, an 89 percent increase over the same time last year -- and a 42 percent increase over the median condo sale price in January.
The data follows a month in which real estate agents on the Big Island and Kauai reported that last year's hysteria appears to have mellowed. In January, the number of house and condo sales on the Big Island also dropped, but prices increase, as second-home buyers continued to flood the island.
On Kauai, meanwhile, the start of the New Year also saw a continued lag in Kauai's housing market, as the pace of home sales dropped even as prices shot up.
That trend continued in February, when the number of single-family home sales declined 32 percent to just 36. The median price was $649,000, up 10 percent from the year-earlier month. At the same time, the number of condos sold more than doubled, to 51 from 23, and the median price rose 6 percent over February 2005, to $439,000.