The Maui Real Estate market saw its second consecutive week of strengthening buyer activity. Closings remain impacted by limited buyer activity from earlier in the pandemic. Buyers will find that there is more inventory starting to come to market. Find out more below as I delve into this week’s market activity in Maui County.
Maui Realtors reported 48 new escrows this week. That is a 4% percent increase over last week. It is just 2% below the number of properties that went under contract during the same seven day period of 2019.
I was somewhat surprised by the increase in activity last week in spite of the social upheaval happening around the country. I am even more surprised to see that demand actually increased for this seven day period. This doesn’t seem to be a unique phenomenon to Maui. Redfin’s Glenn Kelman reports the data for his national brokerage below.
1 of 10: Redfin just published our weekly report on housing demand, and once again it’s loaded with numbers & juicy insights from our agents. Demand is 25% above pre-pandemic levels. Buyers haven’t “batted an eyelash” over the possibility of a resurgent pandemic or now protests.
— Glenn Kelman (@glennkelman) June 12, 2020
To be clear, the Maui market is not seeing demand exceeding pre-pandemic levels. That said, just like on the mainland, Maui buyers have not been deterred by the increase in Covid on the mainland or the nationwide protests.
Notable Numbers From This Week’s Pending Sales
- The 48 new pending sales include 23 homes, 23 condos and 2 lots.
- This is only the second time since the stay at home order went into effect that condo sales have been equal to home sales. For the pandemic, pending home sales are higher.
- Of the 23 pending condo sales, 9 are vacation rentals. Another two pending sales are higher priced resort area condos that prohibit vacation rentals.
- Pending land sales continue to bounce between 0-4 per week with this week coming in at 2.
This Week’s Sales
Maui Realtors reported 16 sales between June 3rd and June 9th. This is a dip of 55% from last week and down 68% from the same seven day period from the year prior. Keep in mind that sales are a lagging indicator of buyer demand. I thought our sales numbers were past the influence of the slower demand from just after the stay at home orders went into place. Apparently, that isn’t the case. When you look at the pending sales chart, we should see better sales numbers ahead. Most transactions are taking 30-60 days to close after they go under contract.
New Listings for The Week
Realtors listed 77 properties between June 3rd and 9th. That is the same number as last week and 6% below the same seven day period of 2019. Inventory is slowly growing as new listings outpace new pending sales. The overall inventory numbers remain pretty low with scarcity a big factor in some towns and neighborhoods around the island.
Contact the Maui Real Estate Team
Contact The Maui Real Estate Team if you have questions on the market or if you are interested in buying or selling property on island. Our experience and market knowledge is an asset to buyers and sellers in these dynamic market conditions.
