2018 Year to Date Paia Update

As we approach the end of August, I thought this would be a good time to check in on the Paia Real Estate market. We already looked at the Spreckelsville neighborhood last week. This post will look at just Paia and Kuau. Paia has been a strong market due to high demand and constrained supplies. Hemmed in by cane fields, there have been no new subdivisions in the community since back in 2003. Over that time, Paia has continued to grow in prominence and popularity. People have sought out the North Shore town due to its proximity to North Shore wind and wave sports, natural beauty, preponderance of wellness related business and plantation town charm.

Paia Town from Above

With no real growth in housing inventory and increased demand, pricing in the community has been on an upward trajectory since 2011. With limited plans for future development on the immediate horizon, the ingredients are in place for continued upward pressure on prices over the long term. This post looks at real estate activity in the community for the year to date and the outlook for the rest of 2018.

The map above shows real estate activity in Paia during 2018. The red pins represent sales while the yellow pins represent pending sales. You can click on individual pins to learn more about the individual properties. It is worth noting that the map above and the numbers below exclude the Spreckelsville neighborhood. Traditionally, the local Realtor Association lumps Spreckeslville in with Paia in our MLS.

Notable Paia Real Estate Numbers for the Year to Date

• There have been 17 homes sold as of August 18, 2018 with four homes currently under contract. Last year there were 11 homes sold over that same period of time. That is a 54% increase in sales volume.
• The median sales price for homes during this period is $615,000. The average price over this period is $1,154,610. Over the same period last year, the median price was 700K with an average price of $1,591,045. That is a 13% drop in median price and a 27% drop in average price.
• The high sales price for the year to date is $6,350,000 for a house and cottage on just under an acre of oceanfront land.
• The low sale for the year to date is $377,000 for a short sale in Skill Village. It is worth noting that the 2 bedroom, 1 bath home went under contract all the way back in February of 2017.
• There were two condos that sold at Kuau Plaza for the year to date with one more pending sale. The high sale is $375,000 for a remodeled one bedroom, one bath. This is above average activity for this small vacation rentable condo complex.
• There was one bank owned sale and two short sales among the seventeen sales in Paia this year. These are still properties being processed through the system from the last real estate downturn.

Thoughts on the Overall Activity to Date in Paia

The numbers above show a healthy bump in sales activity and a pretty sizable decrease in median and average prices compared to last year. These changes are not due to an increase in demand or a decreased value. Instead, it is a reflection of an increase in supply. For the first seven months of the year, Paia had a respite from the worst of the supply crunch. The more notable increase in supply came at the lower price points in the market. While the inventory for buyers under $650,000 remained relatively thin, it was a lot better than what was available last year. We even saw a few sales under $500,000. Unfortunately, the lowest priced inventory wasn’t that accessible to first time buyers as the condition of two of the three homes required cash buyers. The third was a home that had gone under contract all the way back in February of 2017. While Paia is a small community, it has a pretty diverse housing stock. The paragraphs below look at the sales activity in specific neighborhoods in Paia and Kuau.

Paia Halelani

Paia Halelani is a neighborhood located a few streets past the intersection of Hana Highway and Baldwin Avenue on the Mauka side of Hana Highway. It has had very little turnover in the last few years with no sales since 2015. During 2015, we saw record high sales for the neighborhood. This year, there have been two sales and both were priced under $500,000. That said, this is not a reflection of values dipping. Both homes were in poor condition requiring cash buyers.

Skill Village

Skill Village is located off of Baldwin Avenue about a mile above the intersection of Baldwin and Makawao Avenue. The neighborhood of modest homes sees more turnover than most parts of Paia. That said, 2017 proved to be pretty quiet year for sales with only 2 sales through Mid August. In 2018, much of the increase in Paia market activity can be attributed to a resurgence in Skill Village sales. There have been a total of 9 sales in the neighborhood this year. That is an impressive 450% increase. Skill Village also smashed its all time sales record this year with a close of $800,000. It is worth noting that this larger home was formerly owned by a building contractor who made significant upgrades to the finishing of the property.

Kuau Bayview

Kuau Bayview is another neighborhood that experienced an increase in sales through the middle of August. After only two sales in all of 2017, there have been four sales this year. Three of the four sales were noteworthy. We saw the first ever $1,000,000 sale in the neighborhood, the highest sales price for a home that backs on to Hana Highway and the highest ever cost per square foot sale. It is clear that Kuau Bayview remains an in demand neighborhood for Paia buyers.

Paia Oceanfront

While not a neighborhood per say, I did want to look at the sales activity for Paia Oceanfront Homes. There have been two sales this year. One for a home on Nalu Place on Paia Bay. The other home was further East from downtown on Lae Place. The large oceanfront lot of just under one acre has a home and a cottage. That property has exchanged hands three times in the last ten years. The two sales to date this year equals the same number as last year through the same period of time. There is one other oceanfront home currently under contract.

Paia Outlook for the Rest of 2018

While the Paia market saw volume increase due to an increase in inventory over the last seven and a half months, the remainder of the year may see limited sales due to shrinking inventory. There are eight listings in Paia and Kuau currently with four of the eight homes under contract. While the pending sales will help to pad the year to date totals, buyers are going to find limited choices unless some additional homes come to market. You can see the current inventory of Paia Real Estate listings on MauiRealEstate.com. Contact the Maui Real Estate Team if you are thinking of buying or selling a property in Paia. We would welcome the chance to be of assistance.