TheBuzz
TheBuzz
High-end homes
-- boom or bummer?High-end real estate on Kahala Avenue isn't selling. As if. Two calls poured in to the Star-Bulletin disputing a report to that end published elsewhere.
"I don't want people to get the idea there's no movement," said Pat Choi, president and principal broker of Choi International.
"Six weeks ago we had not had more than 10 sales on the island over $2 million. Now there's 21 sales over $2 million," she said.
Those sales comprise 18 single-family homes and three vacant lots.
"The energy is there, just in the last three months, that we haven't seen all year," Choi said.
The transactions include the Oct. 24 recording of the sale of 4663 Kahala Ave. for $9.7 million and the Oct. 17 recording of the $7 million sale of 4439 Kahala Ave. Choi was the listor for both oceanfront properties and those Kahala deals have contributed to her year-to-date total of $60 million in sales.
PHOTO COURTESY CHOI REALTY
This 11-bedroom, 10.5-bath estate at 4663 Kahala Ave. sold this month for $9.7 million
Ira Gordon, principal broker at Aloha Homes, cited sales of those two properties as well as a $3.8 million dollar purchase at 4670 Kahala Ave. Donald Eovino developed and sold that one.
"(Reports of slow sales are) devastating to a seller if they have a listing in that area, because all potential buyers are going to think the homes are overpriced," he said.
But there are weak spots in the high-end category, said Choi and Gordon.
Choi has seen a slowdown in sales in Lanikai, which one Realtor described as being "on fire" earlier this year. Now "there's too much inventory," Choi said, "and when you get all this inventory buyers wait to see what's going to happen." That is not to say homes haven't sold or aren't being listed for pretty pennies. Choi cited a recent $3 million sale by Patricia Case and listings by Steve Drake and Connie Carvill for $6.9 million and $7.5 million, in addition to her own $5.3 million offering.
Gordon has seen a slowing of sales of leasehold condominiums in buildings such as the Waikiki Landmark and Century Center.
"In this market (the Landmark) should have sold out pretty quick," and Century Center "should be booming," he said.
In the Landmark, "The leasehold fee will be available shortly and that will finish out those sales," Gordon said, adding that leasehold conversion negotiations are under way for Century Center as well. "A lot of what happens in real estate is emotional and psychological," Gordon said. "Whenever newspapers start writing bullish articles it has an effect, and it works the other way too."
Speaking of high-end
Hawaii has something to crow about in that both the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai on the Big Island and the Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea top the 2003 Zagat survey of the best resorts in the country.The survey listed Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts as the top choice in the United States, as evaluated by more than 7,000 frequent travelers.
Standard room rates at Hualalai start at $500 per night and $400 at Four Seasons Maui.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com
