June 27th Weekly Maui Real Estate Market Update

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After two successive weeks of increasing activity, home buyer activity was down during my last seven day tracking period. Fluctuations can be expected when you are monitoring real estate activity on a week by week basis. This week’s new pendings, closed transactions and new listings are all lower than the week prior. Find out more details about this week’s Maui Real Estate activity below.

This Week’s Pending Real Estate Sales

Weekly Pending Maui Real Estate Sales by property type in Maui County during Covid-19
This chart compares Weekly Pending Real Estate Sales by property type during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The weeks run from Wednesday through Tuesday. I chose this timeframe to correspond with the start of stay at home orders on Wednesday March 25th.

Maui Realtors reported 45 new pending sales in the seven day period between June 17th and June 23rd. That is 17% fewer pending sales than last week. It is 15% less than the same seven day period of 2019.

I don’t think we should read too much into this week’s decrease. I have followed this relatively small market long enough to know random fluctuations in activity occur. In the long run a drop here or a bigger rise there can amount to statistical noise. Trends are going to be established over many weeks.

Overall, current buyer activity remains strong when you take a look at the bigger picture. Maui still has 34% unemployment and few if any off island visitors. You would expect much lower activity in light of these numbers.

Notable Numbers from this Week’s Pending Sales

  • This week’s 46 pending sales include 23 new pending home sales, 19 new pending condo sales and 3 pending lots.
  • Buyer demand for homes remains pretty consistent. For three of the last four weeks, there were 23 new pending home sales with the week prior to this the outlier with 28 new pendings.
  • The 19 new pending condo sales included 16 vacation rentals and 3 condos in developments that prohibit vacation rentals. Second home condo purchases are outpacing condos used for primary residences during Covid-19. However, this week’s numbers are a lot more imbalanced than normal. Again, I caution jumping to conclusions about this sudden imbalance. I sneaked a peak at the last couple of days and there were already 5 pending sales at condos that prohibit rentals. This may well be just random variability in the market.
  • Pending land sales remain consistent. The weekly pending continue to fluctuate between 0 and 4 new escrows per week. This is the one market segment where we aren’t seeing clear growth in buyer activity.

Closed Transactions During The Last Week

This chart compares weekly real estate sales by property type during the Covid-19 pandemic
Weekly Maui Real Estate Sales by property type during the Covid-19 pandemic

Maui Realtors reported 32 sales between June 17th and June 23rd. That is 6% lower than the week prior and 54% below the same seven day period of 2019. Keep in mind, sales are a lagging indicator of buyer demand. Most of the closed transactions are based on contracts agreed upon 30-60 days ago.

This Week’s New Listings

This chart tracks weekly new listings by property type during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tracking weekly new listings by property type during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Maui Realtors brought 71 properties to market between June 17th and June 23rd. That is 9% below the week prior’s new listings and 11% below the same seven day period of 2019. Once again, new condo listings lead the way with 40 properties coming to market. There are 24 new home listings and seven new lots on the market.

At this point, inventory levels remain low enough to sustain current pricing with modest price increases in some market segments. The condo market merits watching long term as new inventory continues to exceed new pending sales. Not to sound like a broken record for those that read these updates on a weekly basis, but inventory levels were low going into the pandemic. Limited inventory was clearly impacting the market during the first two months of the year. There is room to absorb some new inventory without adversely affecting pricing.

The home market continues to see the strongest demand with the least new inventory relative to that demand. That is helping to keep sustain and in some cases lead to modest increases in pricing.

The Return of Trans-Pacific Travel

Looking at the big picture, there was big news in Hawaii this week as the governor outlined the path to Transpacific travel without quarantine. As of August 1, travelers will be able to travel to the islands without quarantining if they test negative for Covid-19 within 72 hours of their departure to Hawaii. If they do not take a test, they will still be subject to two weeks of quarantine.

It will be interesting to see how this impacts the market moving forward. The arrival of tourists will be a boost to the local economy. It could also bring more off island buyers back into the market.

I have been somewhat surprised at how resilient that part of the market has been to date. Technology plays a key part as 3D tours, facetime tours and video allow buyers to get a pretty good perspective on properties. These tools are providing enough of a comfort level for sight unseen offers. That said, you would think that the physical return of second home buyers should boost activity.

Contact The Maui Real Estate Team

While the world may seem a little crazy, the beauty of Maui remains a constant. There are still kama’aina and second home owners searching for a place to call home on this beautiful island. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team if you are considering buying or selling a home on Maui. We look forward to sitting down with you to learn more about your real estate needs.

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