Home sales steady Despite expected slowing of real estate sales during the holiday season, activity on the neighbor islands last month showed few signs of a lull.
Neighbor island real estate
doesn’t slow for the holidaysBy Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.comOn Maui, 83 single-family homes and 119 condominiums sold in November. The median price for a single-family home reached $394,569, up 10.1 percent compared with November 2001.
Sales of single-family homes on Maui were up 36.1 percent for the month compared with the same period last year.
While the number of condominiums sold on Maui in November remained strong, by contrast, the median price showed a noticeable decrease, dropping to $170,000 from $201,000 a year earlier. Kihei registered the largest number of sales, at 47, followed by the Napili/Kahana/Honokowai area which listed 29 sales.
For single-family home sales, Central Maui led the way with 25 home sales during the month. Kihei was not far behind with 21 sales.
"Typically, the Christmas season is very low, but this year and also last year, it really hasn't happened, said Keoni Ball, broker in charge at Carol Ball & Associates. "I think we could go right through Christmas without a slowdown."
On the Big Island, the market continued to surge ahead with 138 single-family homes sold in November, with a median price of $196,000.
Likewise sales of condominiums on the Big Island continued at a brisk pace with 51 sold in November and a median price of $151,900.
Gary Davis, broker in charge at Clark Realty in Waimea, said like Maui the expected seasonal slowdown hasn't happened yet.
"We keep thinking that lack of inventory is really going to slow things down, but that doesn't seem to be happening as more is coming onto the market," he said.
November proved to be another strong month on the Garden Isle with 44 single-family home sales -- an increase of 63 percent from November 2001's 27 single-family home sales.
The median price for a single-family home on Kauai reached $370,500, up 68.4 percent from last November's median of $220,000. Condominium sales on Kauai also showed an increase to 32 sales from 24 in November 2001. The median price for a condominium was $202,877 in November, up 30.5 percent from $155,500 a year earlier.
Much of the Kauai sales activity, especially in condominiums, continues to be driven in large part by mainland buyers, said Ken Kubiak, broker in charge at Century 21 All Islands Kilauea office. On the island's north and south shores any new inventory is quickly snapped up, Kubiak said.
