June is the middle of fruit season on Maui. Local mangoes, lychee and lilikoi can all be found in farmer’s markets and grocery stores. June is also a month of Festivals and celebrations with the Wailea Film Festival, the Kapalua Wine and Food Festival, The Slack Key Guitar Festival at the MACC and more. The start of June also means that it is time to take another look at the performance of the Maui Real Estate market. We take a look at last month’s sales volumes, median sales prices and a few other notes and numbers from May sales activity. Sales are a lagging indicator that don’t reflect current demand so we also wanted to take a look at the number of properties that went under contract last month. Without further ado, here are the real estate sales numbers for May on Maui.

By my count, there were 85 homes sold in Maui County last month with a median price of $540,000. By comparison, there were 109 homes sold in Maui County during May of 2013 with a median price of $549,000. That is a 22% drop in sales activity and a 2% drop in median price compared to last May.

There were 116 condo sales reported in May of 2014 with a median price of $476,000. Last May, there were 139 sales reported in Maui with a median price of $380,000. That is a 17% drop in sales activity with a 25% jump in median price when comparing this May to last May.

There were 20 land sales reported in May at a median price of $575,000. In May 2013, there were also 20 sales with a median of $267,500. That is a 215% increase in median price.

While compiling the numbers above, I came across some more numbers and data from the May Maui Real Estate Sales that I thought were worth sharing.

• The highest priced home sale last month was $3,150,000 for the Rainbow House in Ka’anapali Coffee Farms.
• That was one of five home sales over $2,000,000 last month. The other four sales were geographically diverse with closes in Haiku, Launiupoko, Wailea and Maui Meadows.
• The highest priced condo transaction was $5,000,000 for a beachfront unit at Coconut Grove in Kapalua.
• That was one of 15 condo sales over $1,500,000 last month. Honua Kai Resort led the way with seven sales over $1,500,000. There were also two sales at The Whaler, one sale at Ka’anapali Ali’i and one sale at Ka’anapali Shores. The Ka’anapali area condos were a hot ticket for luxury buyers. The other big sales occurred at Kapalua Bay Villas, Wailea Point and Na Hale O Makena.
• The highest priced land sale last month was $1,600,000 for 42 acres on the ocean between Wailuku and Kahakuloa.
• There were only 8 bank owned closes all of last month. That is down 50% from the 16 bank owned closes we saw last May. Buyers looking for bank owned bargains will find that the pickings slim.
• There were 10 successful short sales last month. That was done 58% from the 24 completed in May of 2013.

The thing that stands out most to me about this month’s stats is the drop in sales activity. As noted in the April stats, there was a drop in the number of properties that were pending in April as compared to the same time last year. That makes the drop in sales a little less of a surprise. We are also mirroring some trends that have been occurring on the mainland. The National Association of Realtors Reported that April existing home sales were down 6.8% compared to the same time last year. It is hard to pinpoint all of the factors that have led to the drop in sales activity in Maui County. That said, I think a significant driver has been the lack of inventory. The decrease in homes and condos at lower price points in our market has meant not enough supply to meet demand.

There were a few other things worth noting about the stats. The median sales price was down a little from last year. That seems counter intuitive with less low end inventory and clear signs of price reductions. The bigger driver may be a little less activity on the high end of the market. There were 7 fewer sales this May compared to last May over $1,000,000. On the other end of the spectrum, the condo medians were way up this month. Some of that gain could be attributed to price increases. The rest is due to shifts in market activity. Less inventory on the low end plays a part as does a big increase in activity on the high end. There were 26 condo sales over $1,000,000 this year compared to 12 last year. That is in spite of a 17% drop in overall condos sold. The huge jump in land medians can be attributed to a decrease in low end sales, an increase in high end sales and modest price increases. The small sample size for land sales contributes to big fluctuations in medians.

Does it look like the slow down in sales activity will continue into the summer? Right now, the numbers are mixed. The chart below compares the number of properties that went under contract in May of 2014 to what went pending last year in May of 2013.

It looks like we might see an uptick in home sales. Home pending sales were up a whopping 27% over last May. While condo numbers appear to be continuing their recent drop in activity with a 21% drop in pendings. Land pending sales were down 55% compared to last May. I did a little digging behind that number and some of that difference can be traced to a solid number of commercial land listings that went under contract last May. Commercial and residential land are lumped together in our MLS. It will be interesting to see what happens with activity as we move into the summer months. It is safe to say that Maui is experiencing an unpredictable market.

What does this all mean for buyers and sellers? Buyers will find that prices are still below peak market levels in all but a very few neighborhoods around the island. That said, buyers will also find that we have seen significant appreciation from the bottom particularly at the lower price points of the market. Those that are expecting to find rock bottom deals will be challenged by the limited inventory and the smaller number of distressed and bank owned properties. Buyers should expect that well priced properties will go under contract quickly. If it is in a particularly desirable part of the market, those properties may attract multiple bids. Sellers should expect improving market conditions, but those that are swinging for the fences on their prices may be disappointed. Overpriced properties are sitting. There are also some communities and price points that are softer than others. Go to market pricing strategies should take into account recent sales prices and activity levels. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team for a free consultation to discuss the specific market conditions for the communities and price ranges that fit interests and budget. We welcome the opportunity to be of assistance.

The first month of 2014 is in the books and Valentine’s day is just around the corner. That means it is time to take the pulse of the Maui Real Estate market and get a sneak peek at the January 2014 Maui Real Estate Statistics. This post takes a look at sales volume and median prices for properties this January and compares them to what we saw during January 2013. I also highlight some other numbers that I came across while compiling these stats that I thought might be of interest. This month, I am opting not to do a video analysis. I will be saving my face made for radio until next month. However, I did take a stab at gauging buyer activity during the first six weeks of peak buyer season. Without further ado, here are the numbers.

There were 64 homes sold in Maui County during the first month of 2014 with a median sales price of $691,500. Last January, there were 63 homes sold with a median price of $550,000. That is a less than 2% increase in sales activity and a 26% increase in median price when comparing this January to January 2013.

There were 92 condos sold in January of 2014 with a median price of $431,000. In the first month of 2013, there were 63 sales at a median price of $297,000. That means a 46% increase in sales activity and a 45% increase in median prices over last January.

There were 13 land sales in January of this year at a median price of $370,000. Last January, there were 7 sales with a median price of $675,000. That is an 86% bump in activity and a 45% decrease in median. With the smaller sample sizes, the difference in sales and medians can be more dramatic.

In addition to the numbers above, here are a few other numbers and tidbits that I thought were worth sharing about the January Real Estate sales activity.

• The highest priced home sale for January was $9,300,000 for a 4,000 square foot oceanfront home at Makena Place.
• That was one of 11 homes sold over $2,000,000 in January. That is a very strong month for ultra luxury purchases. For context, there were only two sales in that price range last January. It was a geographically diverse list of homes sold with big closes in Spreckeslville, Pukalani, Lanai, Ka’anapali, Wailea, Kihei and Makena.
• The high condo sale last month was $2,600,000 for a three bedroom unit at Hoolei in Wailea.
• The Ho’olei sale was one of 7 condo transactions that sold for over $1,500,000. There were also high dollar transactions at Honua Kai, Ka’anapali Ali’i, Puamana and the Terraces at Manele over on Lanai.
• As a quick side note, there continues to be pretty extensive luxury sales activity on Lanai. I did a little digging and the vast majority of the purchases appear to have been made by an LLC out of Walnut Creek, California. I suspect that LLC is owned by Larry Ellison.
• The high land sale in January was $4,587,999 for 3,455 acres of land in Hana. This is all of the Hana Ranch land on the Mauka or Mountain side of Hana Highway. This was a complex transactions with additional considerations above and beyond the published sales price. This also included the Ranch’s cattle operation and private water system. With the water system comes additional obligations. It is also known that there were quite a few parcels of land included in the purchase that did not have clear title.
• Bio-Logical Capital was the entity that purchased the Hana Ranch. They plan to keep the land in agriculture and conservation with the hope of boosting the agricultural productivity. It will be interesting to see what changes this purchase might bring to Hana and the Hana Real Estate market.
• There were only 4 bank owned (REO) sales that closed last month. There were 6 REO sales in January of 2013. At this point, bank owned properties are having a very limited impact on the Maui market.
• There were 10 short sale transactions completed in January. Last January, there were 14 short sale transactions. It will be interesting to see if the number of short sale transactions will decrease significantly going forward. A mortgage forgiveness tax break expired on December 31st. Sellers may find debt forgiven by banks to be classified as income by the IRS.

There were a couple of things that stood out about last month’s numbers. They are both related. Number one on the list is the high monthly median sales price for homes. To be clear, the drastic increase in medians is not a just a reflection of the increase in home values. It is safe to say that there were price increases around the island, but that wasn’t the only factor that drove up the median. Distribution of sales plays just as big if not an even bigger role than price increases when it comes to changing median sales prices. That brings us to the other number that really stood out this month in the stats. The 11 homes sold over $2,000,000 was significant. When 17% of the homes sold in a month are over $2,000,000, that is going to push up your median sales price. As I have said in other recent stats posts on our blog, I think we can attribute a good portion of this high end market activity to a very strong year for the stock market. There were high net worth buyers who cashed in on their stock returns and made discretionary purchases of Maui luxury properties.

January is typically a slower month for sales to be reported. That is because November and at least the first couple of weeks of December typically see fewer properties to go under contract. That isn’t as busy a time of year for year for visitors and local buyers tend to be preoccupied with other holiday activities to be shopping for houses. While January may not bring a ton of sales, this is one of the three to four months of the year that constitute our peak buyer’s season.

Lately, I have heard some buzz on the street and from other Realtors that the market had really picked up as of late. That didn’t quite jive with what I had observed in my own personal real estate experience. It also didn’t quite reflect what I was seeing with pending properties on our MLS. The market feels like it is humming along at a good pace, but it did not feel any stronger than last season. If anything, I suspected that more limited inventory on the low end was reducing the total number of sales. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something.

While we have our fingers in a broad cross section of the Maui market, maybe there was more activity that I overlooked. The January sales volumes above are a lagging indicator. They don’t show the current market activity. To get a gauge of current activity, I wanted to look at the properties that went pending since the start of peak buying season. The table below shows the properties that have gone under contract between December 20th and January 31st and compares it to the same period a year ago.

As you can see from the chart above, buyer activity during the 2013-2014 peak buyer’s season is for all intents and purposes mirroring what we saw the year before. Vacant land is the only property type where the number of properties going into escrow is lagging behind what we saw last year.

For buyers considering entering the Maui Real Estate market, the analysis above looks at the market in broad brush strokes. Sales activity and pricing momentum varies around the island by community and price point. The Maui Real Estate Team would welcome the opportunity to discuss market conditions and available inventory for the types of properties that will meet your needs. Sellers will find that market conditions have continued to improve, but there are still places where higher inventory requires thoughtful pricing. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team today for a free consultation to discuss your property and your real estate needs.

The champagne corks have long been popped and the smoke from New Year’s fireworks have cleared from the island skies. That means another month and another year in the books for the Maui Real Estate market. At the start of the New Year, we want to look back at how the market has performed of late, over the entirety of 2013 and what we might expect in 2014. This is the first of what I hope to be several posts wrapping things up on 2013. The first post will be focused on the last month of the year. My sneak peek at the December stats takes a look at sales activity to close out the year and a few other notable numbers from the last month of the year. Typically, these monthly posts will have an accompanying video commentary. I am going to forsake the video for a briefer written commentary. I will save my radio face for a separate post where I provide video commentary on the year end statistics. Without further ado, here are the December 2013 numbers.

There were 75 homes sold in Maui during December with a median price of $510,000. Last December, there were 84 homes sold at a median price of $508,000. That calculates to an 11% decrease in sales activity with a very modest increase in median price.

There were 116 condo sales reported in December at a median price of $365,000. In December of 2013, there were 142 condos sold at a median price of $376,000. That is an 18% decrease in activity and a 3% lower median than last year.

There were 22 parcels of land reported sold in December of 2013 with a median price of $370,000. There were 29 sales last December with a median price of $340,000. That is a 24% decrease in activity and a 9% increase in median price.

While compiling the numbers above, I came across the following numbers and stats that I thought were worth sharing.

• The highest sales price for a single family home was $11,900,000 for a beachfront property on Keawakapu Beach right at the edge of Wailea. This is an older home on 8/10ths of an acre. It will likely be extensively renovated or scraped with a larger estate home built.
• There were two other homes that sold for over $2,000,000 last month. One was located in Olinda and the other was in Kapalua. It was notable that the Kapalua property was purchased via auction.
• The highest priced condo transaction last month was $3,900,000 for a place at Wailea Beach Villas.
• There were 9 other condos that sold for over $1,500,000 at a variety of complexes around Maui County. There were sales at Honua Kai, Ka’anapali Ali’i and Hoolei on Maui. On Lanai, there were sales at the Terraces at Manele and the Palms at Manele.
• There were 10 bank owned (REO) properties that sold last month. There were 20 REO sales last December.
• There were 14 short sale transactions completed successfully last month. There were 21 short sales that closed in December.

The December 2013 sales numbers appear to have been pretty healthy. While sales activity is down from what we saw last December, I don’t necessarily see that as a sign of a weakening market. December of 2012 was well above average for sales and a reflection of a surge in market activity that started in early Fall of 2012. October and November of 2012 had more properties go under contract than any other month of 2012. This was especially noteworthy in that the fall is usually the slowest time of year for transactions. This was the start of a run of heightened buyer activity that continued through the first half of 2013. Increased buyer demand was fueled by low interest rates, improving consumer sentiment and scarce inventory. As we hit the fall of 2013, the market behaved a little more like normal. Sales activity started to slow as we entered the traditional slow season for Maui Real Estate. As we enter peak visitor season, we should start to see a steady rise in the number of properties going under contract. Sales volume is a lagging indicator so we may not see that bump in the stats until February or March.

As I mentioned at the start of this post, this is just the first of what should be a few Maui Real Estate statistics posts to start 2014. Leave us a comment if you have any questions on the December stats. If you are interested in buying or selling a property on Maui, Contact the Maui Real Estate Team to arrange a free consultation to discuss your real estate needs.

Usually our blog takes a sneak peak at the Maui Real Estate Statistics. We attempt to be the first outlet to report the numbers while also providing some additional context on what the numbers mean and what we might expect in the market. For reasons you will find out more about below, we have been a little slow to the punch as of late. We were slow getting our stats out last month and the Realtors Association of Maui (RAM) released their November stats earlier this week. That being said, our stats have a few additional numbers that aren’t reported in the RAM stats and we do provide a little more discussion regarding what is happening in the market and what we might expect as we begin our peak buyer’s season. If you are still reading, stick around for numbers and info on the Maui Real Estate market.

There were 75 homes sold on Maui in November with a median sales price of $515,000. For comparison purposes, there were 84 homes sold in November of 2012 with a median sales price of $465,000. That calculates to an 11% drop in sales volume and an 11% increase in median prices when comparing this November to last November.

There were 96 condo sales reported in November of 2013 with a median price of $350,000. Last November, there were 100 sales with a median sales price of $400,000. That means that our November sales activity was down 4% and our median price was 12.5% lower than last year.

The land sales totals for November came in at 23 sales with a median price of $547,371. In November 2012, the numbers were 22 sales with a median price of $455,000. That is a modest 4% increase in sales activity and a 19.4% increase in median price for this November compared to November of last year.

While compiling these numbers, I came across some other numbers that were worth sharing.

• The High Sales price for a single family home last month was $3,600,000 for a beautiful home across the street from Big Beach in Makena
• In addition to the home sold in Makena, there were four other homes sold for over $2,000,000. All of the sales were in either South Maui or West Maui with closes in Ka’anapali, Kihie, Launiupoko and Kapalua.
• The highest condo sales price last month was $11,395,000 for a 4 bed/5 bath villa at the New Andaz Residences. This was of the first two closes of one of the 10 units available at the new Andaz Resort in Wailea. The other sale in Andaz closed for $10,730,250.
• In addition to the Andaz transactions, there were 9 condo sales over $1,500,000 in November. One of the nine sales could arguably be classified as a residential close. Residential condos sold at Maluhia in Wailea have been frequently classified as residential sales.
• Last year, the Hoolei condos in Wailea were a big driver of luxury sales volume. The Hoolei sales volumes have decreased as all but a few of the new developer units have sold. As a result, you are seeing a more diverse list of condominium developments with big dollar sales. This month’s luxury sales included condos at Makena Surf, Wailea Beach Villas, Honua Kai, Ka’anapali Ali’i, Kapalua Ridge and Hoolei.
• The land sales numbers deserve something of an asterisk this month. Of the 23 sales, 7 were commercial lots. Our local Realtor association classifies residential and commercial land sales together. Of the remaining 16 lots, five were new developer offerings at the Peahi Hui Subdivision in Haiku
• There were only 7 bank owned (REO) closes last month compared to 22 bank owned closes last November. REO sales continue to have a limited impact on the market compared to years past.

The November sales were relatively strong this year, but not quite as strong as what we saw during a booming fall in 2012. The market has backed off from its more torrid pace. Fall activity is more in line with what we traditionally see in our market. Lower visitor numbers on island tend to result in fewer sales. We are on the cusp of the peak season for Maui Real Estate as we approach the holidays. The busiest times on Maui are during our peak visitor season from roughly Christmas through mid April. Keep in mind that the sales stats tend to lag a month behind the peak buyer activity. Typical Maui Real Estate transactions take 30-60 days to close. In the video below, I will give a few thoughts on what will shape our market during the peak buyer season and unveil the reason behind our recent lack of blogging activity.

If you are interested in buying or selling property on Maui this winter, we would welcome the chance to sit down with you to listen to your needs. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team today for a free consultation.