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HAWAII
Median home price on Maui hits $695,000

Half the houses sold on Maui last month went for more than $695,950, hitting a new record as the emergence of more international, second-home and investment buyers helped drive prices up 35.8 percent from a year ago, according to figures released yesterday by the Realtors Association of Maui.

The rise produced a slight market slowdown, dropping single-family home sales volume by 0.92 percent. In turn, the pace of condominium sales increased by 40.51 percent and prices rose 11.86 percent to $330,000 from $295,000 a year earlier.

Some would say high single-family home prices are turning the market toward condominiums, but it's hard to find any trends, said John Skenderian, broker and owner of Prudential Maui Realtors.

"The market just continues -- it's better than money," he said, adding that Realtors and economists expect home prices will stay on course for at least the rest of the year.

"Our fine homes division is experiencing very good traffic and the high-end condominium market is also strong," Skenderian said, adding that there are also plenty of buyers searching for inventory in the $200,000 to $500,000 range.

"There's more money in Orange County, California, and Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle, Washington, than there are condominiums in West Maui," he said.

In addition to strong demand from West Coast and local buyers, real estate agents are starting to see more international activity, Skenderian said.

"There are no longer any homes under $1 million in West Maui," Skenderian said.

Travel execs travel for isle meeting

About 50 representatives from chapters of the National Business Travel Association began a quarterly meeting yesterday at the Hawaii Prince Hotel.

The association's Chapter Presidents Council comprises 48 local and regional business travel associations representing 2,500 corporate and government travel managers from across the United States. The two days of meetings will include seminars and networking for the local business travel associations.

NATION
Buffett's profits down 12 percent

OMAHA, Neb. » Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. yesterday said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is considering civil penalties against an executive at one of its insurance companies.

The news came after markets closed when Berkshire released its first-quarter earnings, showing profit fell 12 percent in the first quarter to $1.36 billion. The company was hurt by a hefty loss on investments.

Berkshire said civil penalties were being considered by the SEC against a senior vice president at subsidiary General Reinsurance Corp. over alleged violations of securities laws.

General Reinsurance has been under federal investigation over some of its reinsurance transactions with Virginia-based Reciprocal of America and New York-based American International Group.

FedEx drivers file class-action suit

BOSTON » Four current and former Massachusetts FedEx drivers yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, claiming that they were unlawfully classified as independent contractors. The action is the first brought on behalf of all 17,000 of the package delivery company's independent drivers in the United States and Canada.

Filed in a Boston federal court against FedEx Ground Package System Inc. in Pittsburgh and its parent, FedEx Corp., the suit argues that although the men signed contracts stating that they would operate as independent contractors, they were employees because they had to adhere to FedEx rules.