Late last week, the Realtors Association of Maui posted their official Maui Real Estate statistics. The high level stats were the same as what I posted in my Unofficial September Maui Real Estate statistics. However, the stats offer greater granularity than what I could offer with stats for individual communities. The official numbers also provides a high level historical perspective dating back to January of 2003. The one big surprise with the official stats was the media reaction. Maui real estate stats always need to be viewed with a bit of skepticism. Our smaller market size can lead to big swings in medians that may not necessarily reflect actual changes in home values. These changes have been met with sensationalist headlines when medians jumped significantly. I expected a similar reaction with the big decrease in condo medians. I was surprised when the Maui News article rang a more optimistic tone by looking at the bigger picture of yearly medians and by focusing on average prices. Regardless of the media’s interpretation of the stats, my analysis remains the same. For buyers with cash and good credit, there are opportunities in this market. Sellers need to be realistic with their pricing. Well priced homes that offer value have the highest probability of selling. Homes that are priced above market comparable sales are likely to sit on the market. All that being said, here is a link to the official September Maui Real Estate statistics.
