Luxury home
sales up 37%Buyers married and like to cook
Home sales in Hawaii's luxury resort market showed continued strong performance in the first quarter of 2003, growing 37 percent over the same period a year ago.
Developers increased their revenues by 26 percent on the strength of the higher number of closings, taking in more than $367 million for the period.
Sale prices were slightly lower, down 7 percent compared to the first quarter of 2002.
The lower prices reflected less expensive inventory on the market, said real estate analyst Ricky Cassiday.
"It has to do with some of the more costly projects running out of expensive inventory so developers are not getting the $9 million and $10 million beach front home sales," he said.
Cassiday also noted that a 2001 slowdown in sales made sellers more realistic and buyers more conservative about how much to pay.
But the increase in the number of sales that occurred is a good indicator for the sector's future, he said.
"The increase in the number of sales means that the market is strong and is likely to keep moving ahead," he said.
That's good news for local developers.
"One day when we look back, it's going to seem a remarkable period for real estate investment," said David Murphy, development director for Brookfield Homes Hawaii Inc., which created Ko Olina's Coconut Plantation community.
The Big Island saw the highest average price paid for a resort property during the first quarter at $954,464. That figure was down by 50 percent over first quarter 2002, when the average was almost $1.9 million.
The island seeing the biggest price increase for the period was Maui, with a 16 percent jump to an average sales price of $923,357. Maui also took in the most money from resort sales at $204 million, up $84 million, or 70 percent, from $120 million in the first quarter of 2002.
The highest-priced home purchased was in Wailea, Maui, where a 2.35-acre parcel in Makena sold at $13.4 million. Wailea also saw the greatest number of sales of any resort area for the period with 86 sales, a jump of 69 percent from 51 sales in the first quarter of 2002.
On the Big Island, homes in the Waikoloa resort area experienced the greatest growth in sales, up more than five-fold from first quarter 2002 with 38 sales. The most expensive resort was also on the Big Island at Kukio Beach. The average price paid there was $3.5 million.
The resort market includes the sale of all residential property - condominiums, lots and homes - within resort master planned communities on all islands.
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STAR-BULLETIN / FILE
Brookfield Homes Hawaii Inc.'s Coconut Plantation in Ko Olina is Oahu's only resort community.
Resort home buyers are
married and like to cook
The working stiffs among us might have trouble identifying with buyers of luxury homes. So who are these people and what are they like?
The real estate firms who sell to that level of the market make it their business to know. One such firm is Coldwell Banker. Its Previews International luxury home division conducted a survey among its sales agents to find out who their clients are.
The survey found that 31 percent of luxury home buyers pay cash. Of buyers who took out a mortgage, 17 percent made a down payment that was 50 percent or more of the price of their new home.
About 67 percent of these buyers are baby boomers, ages 35 to 55, who list their profession as "large business executive." Of the group, 68 percent are considered "new money," rather than inheritors of money. The vast majority, 88 percent, say they are married.
Apparently, they like to cook. Of the array of luxury amenities they are most interested in, designer kitchens topped the list.
They also like plenty of space. Almost half of the homes sold to these buyers by Coldwell Banker sales agents measured between 4,000 and 6,000 square feet.
And luxury home buyers like to redecorate. The survey found that 41 percent of them planned to invest more money in the home by doing major renovations.
