The Fourth of July is just two days away. I can already taste the gluten free apple pie, smell hot dogs on the grill and visualize the star bursts of fireworks in the night sky. Of course, that means another month is in the books for the Maui Real Estate market. This month’s sneak peek at the June Maui Real Estate Estate market is coming to you from the mainland where I am visiting friends and family. There is a lot to report this month as the end of June also marks the midway point of 2013. It is a good time to gauge overall market trends. Since I am also trying to balance some vacation time, I am going to break down my commentary into bite sized chunks. Today, I wanted to take a look at the June sales numbers followed by a brief commentary. In the next couple of days, I will take a broader look at the year to date with a video commentary. Last month, I posted my first video commentary on the Maui Market. I had pretty good feedback so we are going to make that a more regular feature on the blog. Without further ado, here is my sneak peek at the June 2013 Maui Real Estate Statistics.
By my count, there were 85 homes sold at a median price of $618,000 during June of 2013. By comparison, there were 86 homes sold at a median price of $575,500 during June of 2012. That calculates to a 1% decrease in home sales volume and a 7% increase in home median price when comparing the two Junes.
To date, Maui Realtors have reported 124 condo sales at a median price of $390,000 during June of 2013. In June of 2012, there were a total of 122 condo sales reported with a median price of $372,990. That equates to approximately a 1.6% increase in condo sales volume and a 4.5% increase in the median condo price.
The June 2013 land sales totaled 17 with a median price of $469,260. Last June, there were 13 sales reported with a median price of $352,500. That calculates to approximately a 31% increase in land sales volume and a 33% increase in land median price when comparing this June to last June.
Here are a few other tidbits I found while compiling the numbers above.
- The Median Sales price for homes on Maui rose over $600,000 for the first time since 2008. The increase in medians is due to a combination of an increase in home values and a shift in price ranges where sales activity is occurring. With fewer homes for sale at entry level price ranges, it makes sense that the mid-point for sales is that much higher.
- The higher median sales price came despite a modest month of activity in the ultra luxury home market. There were four sales over $2,000,000 last month. By comparison, last June there were 9 home sales over $2,000,000. I will have more on the Maui luxury home market in the mid-year update.
- The highest sales price for a single family home in June was $5,790,000 for a luxurious home in Wailea Golf Estates.
- The highest sales price for a condo was $3,725,000 for a unit at Wailea Point.
- The Wailea Point condo was one of four condos sold for over $1,500,000. Last June, there were three condo sales over $1,500,000.
- The high sales price for land was $10,000,000 for 159 acres in Makena.
- There were only 4 bank owned or REO sales last month. There were 27 REO sales last June. This was the slowest month for bank owned sales dating back to 2008.
After May 2013 clearly outpaced May of 2012, the June 2013 and June 2012 Maui Real Estate Sales volumes were strikingly similar. There were only five more properties sold in June of 2013 than June of 2012. That being said, the market feels a lot stronger now then it did last June. We really didn’t start to feel the market kick into another gear until early fall of 2012. If the market is stronger, why isn’t there more sales activity? The answer lies with the inventory or lack thereof. The bottom third of the market has really seen a contraction of available listings. The combination of owners who are still underwater or have limited equity, the big reduction in bank owned activity and strong demand from both first time home buyers and investors make it a challenge to find homes in these bottom price ranges.
The decrease in bank owned sales has been steady over the last year. That being said, it was still surprising to see only one bank owned home close and three REO condos close in all of June. The steady shrinking of inventory doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t see future inventory. There are still homes that are going through the judicial foreclosure process that will come to market at some point in the next year or two. The number that will eventually hit the market is something of an unknown. Some owners may resolve their debts with lienholders or complete a short sale. We also continue to hear that some of the bank inventory is being purchased by institutional investors before going to the open market. Buyers who are laser focused on just bank owned properties may find limited options and stiff competition.
Stay tuned to the Maui Real Estate Blog over the next couple of days for our mid 2013 Maui Real Estate market report. We will take a look at the first six months of 2013, compare them to the first six months of 2012 and give a few thoughts on the outlook for buyers and sellers for the rest of 2013. We hope to give a few community specific mid year updates a little later in the month. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team with questions or for for a free consultation to discuss your Maui real estate needs.
