Neighbor island
home prices soar

The median single-family
home price on Kauai
jumps to $627,000

A lack of available homes slowed sales in some neighbor island markets last month, but single-family home and condominium prices continued to grow in February.

On the Big Island, the number of single-family home sales fell 6.6 percent to 157 in February, while condo sales rose 7.35 percent to 73, according to Hawaii Information Service data released yesterday.

However, median sales prices on the Big Island showed strong overall increases last month. The median price for a single-family home was $350,000, an increase of 29.1 percent from a year earlier.

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"Everything is still selling like crazy and most listings have multiple offers within a day," said Paula Beamer, a Realtor with Parker Ranch Realty Inc. in Kamuela. "Shocking and amazing are the words we continually use to describe this market."

Median prices for Big Island condominiums climbed as the cost of houses has risen beyond the point of affordability for some buyers, Beamer said. In February, the median price of condominiums reached $325,000, a 70.2 percent jump from the median price in February 2004

A rash of baby boomers trying to buy into the market while inventory is still available and affordable has fueled performance, Beamer said.

"They're buying anything that's available," she said, adding that even pockets of Puna, once known for its high crime rate and lower-income housing, have started to attract baby boomer buyers.

Sales patterns were the opposite on the Garden Isle, which recorded an 11 percent increase in single- family home sales, but a 52 percent drop in condo sales. Fifty single-family home sales and 23 condos changed hands in February, according to Hawaii Information Service.

The median price for a single-family home during the month rose 47.5 percent to $627,000, while the median price for condominiums remained flat at $431,650.

"Prices were skyrocketing for a while, but they seem to have leveled off," said Val Pilaria, broker in charge of the Koloa office of Regency Pacific Realty LLC.

Despite a slower start to the year, Kauai's residential real estate market continues to be hot, Pilaria said.

"We don't foresee any slowdowns," Pilaria said. "The single-home market is very strong. It's impossible to find any homes in Poipu under the high $800,000s, but we can't keep up with the demand."

While the price of single-family homes and condominiums rose on Maui, the pace of sales dropped, according to statistics from the Realtors Association of Maui, with 13.8 percent fewer single-family homes and 7.1 percent fewer condominiums selling than a year earlier.

More than half of the 75 single-family homes sold on Maui in February went for more than $575,000, an increase of 4.5 percent from a year earlier, but 6 percent below the $612,000 record price set in January.

Condominium sales remained strong in the Valley Isle with more than half of the 143 condominiums sold last month closing above $358,269, a 34 percent increase from February 2004 but nearly a 14 percent decrease from the $415,000 recorded in January 2005.

Low inventory, especially in the higher-end markets, is the likely cause of Maui's price dip since the start of the year, said Keone Ball, vice president/broker in charge of Carol Ball and Associates in Kahului.

"We do have inventory issues in certain areas," Ball said. "Maybe people are saying, 'We'll wait until we see something else in that price range.'"