Tag: Haiku Real Estate

The Maui Real Estate Team would like to introduce you to our new listing at 160 Laenani Street in Haiku on Maui’s North Shore. This Estate property features a gracious three bedroom, two and a half bath home, a cute one bedroom cottage and beautiful view of the ocean over dramatic Maliko Gulch. Home amenities include an open kitchen and living area with beautiful vaulted ceiling and skylight, hardwood floors, numerous built in bookshelves, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances. The owners added a dramatic sunken living room and quite a bit more covered lanai space. The expansive covered lanai area is ideal for indoor/outdoor living and is a great place to watch the sunset with family and friends. Practical design features include a fully fenced yard, hardie plank siding and low maintenance windows. The one bedroom cottage is ideal for out of town guests or extended family.

The estate at 160 Laenani is located in fantastic North Shore location. The elevation offers cool sleeping weather at nights. The Western area of Haiku is drier than other parts of the community. Restaurants, shopping and Upcountry Fitness are five minutes away at the Haiku Cannery. Downtown Makawao and its shops, galleries and restaurants are five minutes the other direction. You are also close to Ho’okipa Beach Park, Paia and a variety of good public and private schools.

This beautiful property is offered for $1,850,000. Check out the 160 Laenani Street Listing page for additional photos and details. Qualified buyers may contact The Maui Real Estate Team to arrange an exclusive showing.

While we have taken a look at the overall Maui Midyear Maui Real Estate Statistics, I wanted to hone in on some of the individual communities across the island. We are going to start with the North Shore community of Haiku. Haiku encompasses a broad geographic area along the Northern slope of Haleakala Volcano. It ranges in elevation from a few dozen feet above sea level all the way to almost 1,400 feet above the Pacific. While known to receive more rainfall than most parts of the island, there are a pretty wide variety of micro climates. Some areas receive approximately 40 inches of rain a year and while other areas of true rainforest receive over 100 inches of rain a year. The area’s agricultural roots still have an impact on local real estate. Many of the properties are agriculturally zoned meaning they are on lots of two acres or greater. The community is popular with residents due to a variety of factors including the sense of community, natural beauty, tropical climate, bohemian vibe and access to wind and water sports. Those same reasons also attract some second home owners.

The first half of 2013 proved to be strong for Haiku Property Sales. There were both increases in the number of homes sold and land sold when compared to the first half of 2012. That being said, there are some interesting dynamics when you drill down into various price points of the Haiku Real Estate Market. In this update, I will provide specific numbers on median and sales volumes, point at a few additional numbers that I thought were noteworthy, give my take on the numbers and the state of the Haiku Real Estate market and give some additional thoughts on what we may expect to see in the second half of 2013.

During the first six months of 2013, there were 44 homes sold in Haiku with a median sales price of $588,975. During the first half of 2012, there were 33 homes sold with a median price of $620,000. That calculates to a 33% increase in sales activity this year with median prices dipping approximately 5%.

There were 14 land sales reported during the first half of 2013 in Haiku with a median sales price of $454,500. During the first six months of 2012, there were 12 land sales in Haiku with a median price of $393,750. That is approximately a 17% bump in activity and approximately a 15% bump in median price.

Here were a few other numbers that were noteworthy from the first six months of Haiku Real Estate Sales:

• The high sale for a home was $1,600,000 for a 4,259 square foot home on approximately two acres of land. This house is situated on the ocean side of Hana Highway.
• That was one of 7 sales over $1,000,000 in Haiku during the first six months of the year. That is a modest increase in sales activity over last year when there were 5 sales over $1,000,000.
• The lowest sales price for a home was $150,000 for a serious fixer upper out in the Huelo area of Haiku.
• The highest priced land sale for the first six months of the year was $1,000,000 for 2 acres on the ocean in Western Haiku.
• There were 6 bank owned or REO sales that closed in the first six months of 2013. There were 3 REO that closed in the first six months of 2012. This makes Haiku something of an anomaly as most areas of the island showed a sharp drop in foreclosure transactions. I would not take this as a harbinger of things to come in the second half of 2013.
• There were four short sales that closed in the first six months of 2013.

The Haiku market saw some clear signs of improvement during the first six months of 2013. The 33% increase in home sales was strong. While median price decreased, that is a reflection of the distribution of sales rather than a decrease in values. Homes priced below $1,000,000 generally saw pretty clear appreciation. The increase in land sales volume was not quite as robust, but I think some of that may stem from a lack of inventory that fit buyer demand. I will delve into my thoughts on that a little later in the blog post. While there was improvement in the market, it would be a stretch to say all elements of the Haiku market improved. The chart below shows the distribution of sales by price point.

The biggest bump in sales activity occurred at or near the median price points of the market. The lower price ranges saw a little bit of improvement. If there were more inventory at the low end of the Haiku market, I think it is safe to say it would have sold. The high end of the Haiku market is another story altogether. There was a modest increase in sales over $1,000,000 with seven sales reported vs. the five last year. That being said, there is lots of inventory that has yet to be absorbed on the high end.

This chart gives a sense of the abundance of high end inventory on the market in Haiku. Once you get above $1,000,000, there is lots of red representing active listings. There are a handful of blue bars representing sales in the first half of the year and there is just one green bar representing the lone pending sale. This should limit the potential for any appreciation in the near future at the high end of the market. The middle of the market has fairly limited inventory between $500,000-$1,000,000. Most price points are under six months of inventory. This has led to modest appreciation in values in these price ranges. When you get below $500,000, the pickings are particularly slim. There are properties under contract, but nothing active. When properties do come on the market, they tend to go very quickly if they are priced well. This is the segment of the market that has seen the most appreciation. I will provides some thoughts on the outlook for the rest of the year a little later in our video portion of the blog.

Shifting to the Haiku land market, the chart below shows a comparison of the distribution of sales by price point between the first half of 2012 and 2013.

This chart didn’t provide me with any great revelations. The pool of land for sale in Haiku is pretty heterogeneous. Value is driven by acreage, views, location, the presence or absence of infrastructure and utilities, micro-climates and exposure to the elements. Due to those factors, the shift in distribution of sales can be just as much a factor of the variability of properties sold as it is a shift in market dynamics. That being said, I can say I have seen anecdotal signs of a market shift. Land sales in Haiku started to pick up in the second half of 2012. Buyers were drawn to the land market as home inventory started to shrink. Two acre lots with infrastructure and ocean views have been in particular demand. As supplies shrink, we have seen some price increases. At this time last year, a two acre lot with water and ocean views started around the low to mid $300,000s. Most of these properties are now starting in the $400,000s.

While the chart with the comparison of 2012 and 2013 sales didn’t show much, the chart below offers a little more insight into the current market. This chart compares the active inventory, the properties that are pending and the properties that sold in the first six months of 2013.

There are two things that stand out in this chart. The first is the big number of pending sales in the $300,000-$400,000 range. Almost all of these are from the Peahi Hui subdivision. This is a new agricultural subdivision boasting views and all utilities. It never officially went on the MLS and sold out within a couple of weeks of being announced in the real estate community. The lots were priced at or below recent comparable sales and buyer demand was strong. The second thing that stands out in the chart is the abundance of active inventory above $1,000,000 with only one recent sale in that range and no pending properties. It is setting up as a tale of two markets with upward price pressure near the top of the market and downward price pressure on many of these higher end Haiku land listings.

Now that you have a little better sense of what happened in the first half of the year and how things look currently, I wanted to give a few thoughts on what we may see the rest of the year in the Haiku Real Estate market via this video commentary.

Just a quick note on the video above, there was one home listing below $500,000 that came back on the market after I completed filming. If you have any questions about Haiku property, don’t hesitate to contact the Maui Real Estate Team. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss the market and your real estate needs. You can also search the current inventory of Haiku Real Estate listings on MauiRealEstate.com.

Earlier this spring, we hosted a broker’s open event at the Mea Makamae Ranch in Haiku. This was a great opportunity for us to showcase this wonderful property to the real estate community and of course have a good time. We wanted to extend a big thank you to Mishka for performing for the crowd.

Watch this video on YouTube.

This lifestyle property is an equestrian lover’s dream with a tack room, seven gated paddocks and a round pen for training. There is a 4,200 square foot luxury home with a 2,400 square foot garage for all of your toys. There is an additional deluxe 1,000 square foot ohana. There is even a small Christmas Tree Farm. This property is sold!  Contact The Maui Real Estate Team for assistance finding other ranch properties on Maui.

This Listing has Sold

The Maui Real Estate Team is excited to announce a new listing in beautiful Haiku on Maui’s North Shore. 1689 Kaupakalua Road is a 2.25 acre property with a cute two bed/one bath country cottage and infrastructure in place to build a main house.

The existing cottage on the property is two bedrooms and one bath. It offers vaulted ceilings, a great covered wrap around lanai and hardy plank siding. The cottage has great views of the rolling countryside that surrounds the property.

County zoning allows for the possibility of a primary residence on the property. The seller already has infrastructure in place to support a main house including a large septic system, 200 amp electrical service and underground utilities in place. There are no CCRs governing the design of a main house. Potential building sites have nice ocean and mountain views.

The property itself is beautiful. There is rolling pastureland with a small year round stream running through along one edge of the property. You are just down the street from Haiku landmark Hanzawa’s store. It is a short drive to Makawao, Haiku Town Center, Paia and Seabury Hall.

This property sold in 2013. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team to arrange a showing or to discuss further.

In the second installment of our mid-year Maui market updates, we decided to take a look at the North Shore community of Haiku. Haiku is a rural community situated to the East of Paia. It is a geographically expansive area in the windward area of Maui. The community is favored for its natural tropical beauty, property with acreage, peace and quiet, proximity to wind and wave sports and accessibility to Central Maui. Here are the real estate sales numbers for the first half of 2012 and the first half of 2011 for context. The numbers are followed by a few thoughts on the Haiku real estate market and it’s prospects for the second half of 2012.

There were 33 homes sold in Haiku during the first six months of 2012 at a median price of $620,000. By comparison, there were 22 homes sold in the first half of 2011 at a median price of $673,000. That calculates to a 50% increase in sales volume and an 8% decrease in median price. There were 12 Haiku Land Sales for the first half of 2012 with a median price of $393,750. There were 5 land sales during the first half of 2011 at a median price of $300,000. That is a 140% increase in sales volume and a 31% increase in median prices.

Here are a few other numbers worth noting from the first six month of Haiku Real Estate sales:

• The high sale in the first of 2012 for Haiku was $1,900,000. This property is a 3,800 square foot, ocean view, luxury home on just over two acres. It has a pool and a detached ohana. During the same period last year, Haiku’s top sale was $1,150,000. This home is a 1,700 square foot high quality finish home home with detached cottage on almost three and a half acres.
• The low sale for the first half of 2012 was $256,000. This property is a modest off the grid cottage on around a third of an acre. The low for the first half of 2011 was $236,000. That home is a small Bali kit house on just under a tenth of an acre.
• There were five homes sold over $1,000,000 during the first half of 2012. There were also five homes sold over $1,000,000 during the first six months of 2011.
• Three of the properties that closed in the first half of 2012 were bank owned properties. There were also three successful short sale transactions. By comparison, there were two short sales during the first half of 2012 and no REO closes.
• The high sale for land in the first half of 2012 was $854,000 for 14 acres at the edge of the rainforest in upper Haiku. The high sale for the first half of 2011 was $900,000 for 38.49 acres with preliminary approval for a six lot subdivision.

Compared to last year, there has been a distinct uptick in activity in the Haiku Real Estate market. Sales volumes have increased significantly with a 50% increase in volume for homes and a 140% increase for land. Values are a little more muddled. While the median for homes was down 8%, it can be argued that the composition of sales is driving medians just as much as changes in values. The same can be said for land values where the 31% increase in medians is by no means a true reflection of changes in property values. Our feeling is that home values may be down a little in the Haiku market, but we are close to some sort of bottom. Whether that bottom is definitive or not depends in part on the overall global economic picture. Land prices are mixed. There haven’t been as many bottom dollar land sales opportunities that we saw a year or two ago, but the overall trajectory seems lower.

The big question is what can we expect for the rest of 2012? There are 49 active homes for sale in Haiku with 27 homes pending. Of the active homes, 25 homes are listed over $1,000,000. That is over half the inventory. That includes 13 homes over $2,000,000 and 7 homes over $3,000,000. If you are looking at the high end of the market, there appears to be a fair amount of inventory and a smaller pool of potential buyers. Keep in mind that there were only five home sales above $1,000,000 and none above $2,000,000 in the first six months of the year.

The lower the price range, the more scarce the inventory becomes within the Haiku Real Estate market. There are only six homes active under the median sales price of $673,000. That limited inventory may well constrain sales volumes. It may or may not have an impact on values. Scarcity will often drive prices up. It remains to be seen if that will happen with lower priced Haiku homes. We have seen some signs that buyers are opting to remain patient vs. stretching or reaching on prices. Buyers are holding out for quality and value. It will be interesting to see if we see any bumps in inventory. It has been surmised that we may see an increase in bank owned inventory at some point this summer. We haven’t seen any clear signs of that yet.

On the land front, there are 41 active lots for sale and 4 lots pending in Haiku. Twelve of the 41 active lots are priced over $1,000,000. It appears as if there is healthy inventory to choose from in all segments of the Haiku land market. However, it could be argued that there is a lack of premium view lots that are well located and market priced. I can’t see the threat of price increases in the Haiku land market at any point in the near future.

Contact The Maui Real Estate Team with questions or for assistance with Haiku properties. Want to see what homes are available in Haiku now? You can check out the current listing inventory of Haiku Real Estate here.

I have to admit, I enjoy the decorating part of the holiday season. Our parents put a lot of time and effort in to selecting the family Christmas tree and decking out the house every December. I always enjoy helping Billy and his family find and decorate their tree. Believe it or not, there are a few Christmas Tree farms on Maui. For the last few years, we have headed up to the Mea Makamae Ranch in Haiku to find our tree. If you recognize the name Mea Makamae, that is because the ranch also happens to be one of our listings. This stunning 38 acre estate has a small grove of Cook Pines. These tropical evergreens make for a hardy Christmas tree. The great thing about Cook Pines is that you can “top the tree” and new shoots grow out. Before too long a new “tree” grows in it’s place. Here is a video I shot and edited on my iPhone from our Christmas Tree excursion to Mea Makamae. I even added a cameo by Noodles the long eared reindeer.

Watch this video on YouTube.

The Christmas Tree farm is just one of the great features of Mea Makamae Ranch. Looking for a horse property? Mea Makamae has seven gated paddocks, an outdoor round pen and a tack room. The main house is a luxurious 4,200 square feet with a 2,400 square foot attached garage space. Amenities in the main home include a 1,000 square foot master suite and a gourmet kitchen. In addition to the main house, there is a beautiful 1,000 square foot cottage. The cottage combines classic Hawaiian Plantation Style with modern amenities.

This property sold! Contact The Maui Real Estate Team for assistance searching for other estate properties on Maui.