No slack Home sales on Kauai moved into the new year showing little sign of a slowdown despite reports of decreasing inventory.
in home sales
Kauai and the Big Island
keep pace into new yearBy Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.comOn Kauai, the median price of a single-family home stood at $359,000 in January, up 34.2 percent from January 2002's median of $267,500.
Similarly the number of sales last month reached 49, almost double the 26 sales a year earlier.
Condominium median prices on Kauai also moved up, although not as dramatically. The median price for a condominium was $224,496, up 12 percent from $200,500 paid in January 2002.
The number of condominium sales tapered last month, as inventory continued to decline.
These days, most of the condominium building -- especially on the island's south shore -- is time-share construction by large corporations such as Starwood and Hilton, said Ken Kubiak, broker-in-charge at Century 21 All Island's Kilauea branch.
Kubiak was not hopeful about the prospects for construction of medium- or lower-priced housing in the near future.
"You've got a lot of restrictions on land on Kauai so that limits what you can do," he said.
Given restrictions on housing density and building height, it is tough for developers to make a project worthwhile, Kubiak said.
He said Kauai's single-family home prices began to take off noticeably in the second half of last year with many sales finally closing only in the last couple of months.
"It seemed like in the first part of the year prices were pretty low, so as it got towards the end of the year prices really started moving," he said.
Over on the Big Island, single-family home sales in January were down slightly from 2002, with 125 sales during the month vs. 129 the previous January.
Median prices for single-family homes edged up to $196,000 last month from $175,000 in January 2002. Condominium prices fell slightly to $165,000 from $182,500.
But the number of condominium sales last month showed a noticeable increase, jumping to 73 sales for the month compared with 38 the previous January.
In the Kona district, prices for single-family homes and condominiums continue to be considerably higher than the overall median for the Big Island.
"Home prices have gotten so high, so many people have been forced into condominiums," said Dave Lucas, broker-in-charge at Century 21 All Islands Kona branch.
For example, an 800-square-foot two-bedroom condominium on Alii Drive in Kona sold for around $140,000 to $150,000 a year ago. Today prices there range between $190,000 and $200,000, Lucas said.
Similarly, Lucas said, there were almost 300 single-family homes under $325,000 sold last year in North Kona. Now that market has been picked over and prices have moved up.
"I'd bet that the median price in North Kona for a single-family home is well up in the higher $300s now," he said.
Century 21
