Tag: Maui Land

A quiet country road that wanders towards the ocean. Cooling trade winds. Swaying palm trees. Vibrant greens and the vivid blues of the ocean along Maui’s North shore. If this sounds like a place that you would like to call home, 300 Mehana Road offers two separate opportunities for those that want to build their dream home or cottage on Maui. The state recently approved plans to drill a well to serve the parcel, making these two CPR properties a great places to create your own personal paradise.

Location

300 Mehana Road is located in the community of Haiku on Maui’s North Shore. This quiet town is located on the windward side of the island. Mehana Road is a small private road on the ocean side of Hana Highway. It is about 10 minutes away from a grocery store, restaurants, food trucks, the post office and fitness centers at the Haiku Cannery. It is about 15 minutes from Paia town. Ho’okipa Beach Park is ten minutes away. The airport is roughly half an hour away.

300 Mehana Road Unit A

Unit A consists of 3.88 acres of gently sloped agriculturally zoned land. This unit is designated for the construction of the main house on the property. There is plenty of space for your building site with lots of room left over for gardens or orchards or you can expand upon the existing grove of Coconuts. The property is just one lot back from Uaoa Bay. You don’t just see the ocean, you can smell it and hear it too.

300 Mehana Road Unit B

Unit B has entitlements to build a 1,000 square foot accessory farm dwelling (cottage), This unit includes 4.22 acres of gently sloped land. As with unit A, it offers big ocean views and Haleakala views. There is a grove of guava trees and plenty of space to plant your own orchard, gardens and more. There is even an ag storage shed included in the sale for you to keep all your farm and garden tools.

Utilities

Electric and high speed internet both run to the edge of the property. A buyer will be responsible for bringing those utilities to the building sites. There are two options for water. Many homes in the Haiku area rely on water catchment. Water is caught off a metal roof, stored in a catchment tank and then filtered prior to consumption. The seller also recently obtained approvals from the state for a well. The buyers of the units would be responsible for installation costs of the well.

Contact The Maui Real Estate Team

Unit A is offered for sale for $985,000. Check out the 300 Mehana Unit A listing page for additional photos. Unit B is offered for $895,000. Check out the Unit B listing page for additional photos. If you want the opportunity to build both a house and a cottage and just over 8 acres of land in total, you can of course buy both! Contact The Maui Real Estate Team with questions or to arrange a tour of the two listings.

Welcome to Maui Real Estate Musings Volume XIV! The fourteenth edition of the musings looks back at some of the notable numbers from the June 2022 Maui Real Estate Statistics. There is also an in-depth look at the land market during the first half of 2022. Without further ado…

Notable Numbers from the June Maui Real Estate Statistics

The numbers below are from just the island of Maui. They do not include sales from the islands of Lanai or Molokai. For that reason, they are a little different than the Realtor’s Association of Maui Statistics. It is also worth keeping in mind that these numbers look backwards in terms of market demand. The sales are based primarily on contracts written earlier in the spring from March through May.

June Home Sales

• Maui Realtors reported 83 homes sold in June of 2022. That is down 25% from the 110 homes sold in June of 2021.
• Sales numbers continue to decrease due to both decreased demand and limited inventory throughout the spring.
• While demand may be down, the limited inventory still created a competitive environment for prospective buyers. Of all the homes sold in June on Maui, 33.78% sold for over asking price and 54.22% sold for asking price or above.
• The lower price points of the market remained the most competitive. Of the homes sold for under $1,000,000, 61% sold for over asking price and 84% sold for asking price or above.
• Competition eased a little from May when 35.48% of all homes sold for over asking price and 61.29% sold for asking price or above. It is also the first month this year where the percentages are lower than the year before. The June 2021 numbers were 36.36% above asking and 54.55% asking price or above. For a little context, June 2019 “pre-covid” numbers were 3.45% sold over asking price and 27.59% sold for asking price or above.
• The Median Sales price for the homes that closed in June came in at $1,275,000. That is 14% higher than June 2021’s median of $1,117,500.
• The Average sales price of homes sold in June came in at $1,837,250. That compares to last June’s average of $1,734,816.
• Average sales price continues to be boosted by strong luxury market activity. That includes one sale over $10,000,000, two additional sales over $5,000,000 and a total of 16 homes sold over $2,000,000.
• The highest priced transaction in June closed for $16,013,250. The five bedroom/ 3 bath oceanfront home in Makena is one of the very limited number of homes on island with zoning that allows vacation rentals.

June Condo Sales

• Maui Realtors reported 147 condos sold in June. That is 38% lower than the 239 sold in June of 2021.
• As with the home market, decreased volume reflects both a decrease in demand and constrained inventory.
• Demand for the limited inventory remained sufficient throughout the spring to keep the market competitive among buyers. Of the June condo sales, 33.33% sold for above asking price and 60.54% sold for asking price or above.
• That is pretty comparable to May when 31.94% sold for over asking price an 66.67% sold for asking or above. Again for some pre-Covid context, in June 2019 only 12.2% of sales closed for over asking and 37.4% sold for asking price or above.
• The median price of the condos sold in June is $840,000. That is 29% higher than last June’s median of $650,000.
• The average price of the condos sold in June is $1,240,840. That 26.14% higher than the average of $983,638 in June of 2021.
• Luxury condo market activity is helping to push up that average sales price. Twenty-nine condos closed for more than $1,500,000 including 3 condos over $5,000,000 and 1 over $10,000,000.
• The highest priced condo to sell in June is located in the Makena Golf and Beach Club. The Molokini Residence floor plan with 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms and 4,430 square feet of living space closed for $11,256,000.

Looking at the Maui Land Market

The Maui land market is something of a forgotten stepchild of Market Musings. We typically focus on the far busier home and condo markets. In an attempt to make up for past oversight, I thought I would take a deeper dive into the land market for the year to date.

Year to Date Sales Volumes

	Sales	New Pending Sales	New Inventory	Cancelled Listings
January	19	25	28	4
February	27	16	15	7
March	20	21	23	5
April	20	17	34	10
May	16	9	20	11
June	7	8	10	8

Looking at the numbers in the chart above, the data that stands out the most is the decrease in sales in June. The decline in new pending sales in May and June suggest that we are likely to see lower sales number in the next month or two as well.

The chart above gives some context on how monthly land transactions in 2022 compare to the previous four years. If you are looking at the chart on a smaller device and you can’t read the key, the darker blue line is 2022, the orange 2021, the grey 2020, the yellow 2019 and the light blue 2018. Needless to say, 2022 sales volume is well below the first half of 2021. While 2022 sales started stronger than 2018-2020, sales appear to be trending below the pre-covid numbers in 2019 and 2018.

The other thing that the chart speaks to is the variability in the market. Year to year patterns in market activity are a little harder to distinguish. You can see some signs of seasonality with the first halves of the year typically busier than the second. Unsurprisingly, 2020 is a clear outlier with a much stronger second half of the year. Sales during the first half of 2019 are quiet for a “normal” year. Month to month fluctuations make the chart a little noisier.

A lot of the noise stems from the limited volume of land sales on a monthly basis. A few more or a few less buyers in any one month can make a big difference in the chart. While the island hasn’t had a lot of new land developments over the last five years, sales in these developments can provide a pretty health boost to the monthly numbers. Sales in places like Mahana Estates in Kapalua and Haiku Town Acres helped boost sales volume in late 2020 and spring of 2018 respectively. Otherwise, the market is largely driven by resales, small subdivisions and condominiumized lots.

Year to Date Pricing

The median price of the lots sold in the first half of the year came in at $845,000. That is 20.71% higher than the median during the first half of 2021. The average sales price for lots during the first half of the year came in at $1,355,768. That is a whopping 55.60% higher than January to June 2021 average of $871,266.

The high average price this year stems both from an increase in the proportion of sales over $1,000,000 and a decrease in the proportion of sales below $500,000. A whopping 39.82% of all sales in the first half of 2022 closed for $1,000,000 or higher. That compares to 29.21% of the sales during the first half of 2021. The percentage of lots sold for $500,000 or under came in at 20.35% in the first half of 2022. That compares to 25.84% selling for $500,000 or less in the first half of 2021.

Inventory

While inventory grew this spring, the rate of growth slowed in June, and new inventory is limited to date in July. The price distribution of the inventory is notable as well. Of the 79 active lots on the market as of July 14th, only 15.9% are listed for under $500,000 while 63.29% of the inventory is priced for $1,000,000 or higher. A whopping 21.52% of the inventory is priced for $3,000,000 or higher.

Maui Land Market Outlook

As mentioned above, the decrease in pending sales suggest slowing sales volume will continue in the near future. That shouldn’t be too big of a surprise with the overall volume of sales slowing on island. The question is whether the decrease is a blip or a trend?

I can’t speak with any sense of certainty, but it is worth noting that the land market faces headwinds going forward. Lower priced inventory is scarce. Higher interest rates and uncertainty over the direction of future interest rates is a barrier for those who want to build and refinance into a conventional home loan going forward. My understanding is that building material costs remain pretty high although there may be some relief in the future as commodity prices come down. That said, construction labor is likely to remain high on island. When talking to a contractor earlier this year, he indicated he had to keep raising the hourly wage of his employees. Otherwise, employees struggled to afford rentals under his older wage structures. It will likely require a decrease in local rents or a big construction slow down for labor costs to adjust.

The other question is to whether we will continue to see higher demand in the $1,000,000 plus inventory. Only 13-16% of all sales closed for over $1,000,000 during 2018-2019. Will we continue to see elevated demand for higher priced lots as the market normalizes?

The one thing likely to bolster the land market moving forward is continued scarcity. There aren’t a lot of land projects on the horizon. Resales, condominiumized lots and the occasional small subdivision are the likely source for inventory in the future. This is an island so areas with sufficient water, infrastructure and zoning for future development remain finite.

A Little Maui Beauty to Brighten Your Day

Located on the far south end of Maui, La Perouse Bay is the site of the last lava flow on Maui, dating back to 1790. As part of the 'Ahihi Kina'u Natural Area Reserve, the north area, Moanakala, remains an excellent choice for snorkeling when conditions are favorable. pic.twitter.com/cidBdjOF8I

— Maui Hawaii (@Maui) July 13, 2022

Contact The Maui Real Estate Team

Questions about this post? Interested in buying or selling property on Maui? Contact The Maui Real Estate Team. One of our agents would welcome the chance to sit down with you to answer questions and to learn more about your Maui Real Estate needs.

Just listed in Windward Maui! This lot is perfect if you are looking for all of the beauty of Hana, but you aren’t willing to make the drive. Kailua Country Estates is a gated subdivision located just 30 minutes from the intersection of Baldwin Avenue and Hana Highway in Paia. It offers a quiet rural setting and all of the natural beauty of East Maui.

The topography of the two acre agriculturally zoned lot is gently rolling. Large common mango trees dot the lot. There is still plenty of room to grow fruit trees, plant a garden, plant tropical flowers or more. There are good building sites with nice ocean views. Ag zoning allows for a primary residence with the potential for a cottage with an approved farm plan. There is electric and telephone available in the area. You can also be one of the growing number of people who are choosing to go off the grid with a photovoltaic system. Take advantage of the ample rainfall and use catchment as your water source.

This lot is offered for $425,000. This lot sold in 2019. Contact the Maui Real Estate Team if you are in the market for Maui Land.

Today’s blog is a look at the numbers for the 2014 Maui Real Estate Market. We give you the total sales volumes and the medians by property types. We also delve a little deeper looking at notable sales, communities that saw more activity and other noteworthy numbers from the past year.

There were 941 homes sold in Maui during 2014 with a median sales price of $570,000. In 2013, there were 983 homes sold with a median price of $530,000. That is roughly a 4% drop in volume and roughly an 8% increase in median price.

There were 1,197 condos sold in Maui County during 2014 at a median price of $414,750. By comparison, there were 1,339 condos sold in Maui during 2013 with a median sales price of $374,000. That is an 11% drop in volume and an 11% increase in median price.

Maui Realtors reported 166 lots sold in Maui County during 2014 with a median price of $520,000. Last year, there were 219 lots sold at a median price of $399,000. That is a 24% drop in volume and a 33% increase in median price.

There are other notable numbers that are worth sharing from the 2014 Maui Real Estate Sales. Here are some of the highlights.

• The highest priced home sale this year was $9,300,000 for an oceanfront estate at Makena Place. This beautiful home has four beds, four and a half baths and over 4,000 square feet of living space.
• That was one of 61 homes sold over $2,000,000 in 2014 and one of 15 sales over $5,000,000. In 2013, there were 47 sales over $2,000,000 with 12 of those sales priced over $5,000,000. That is an increase of almost 30% on homes over $2,000,000 and 25% for homes over $5,000,000.
• The Wailea and Makena area was the busiest market for high end sales with 14 closes over $2,000,000.
• On the other end of the spectrum, the lowest priced transaction in 2014 was $1 for a leasehold bank owned home on Molokai. The lease for the home was set to expire in December.
• Kihei was the busiest community for home sales in all price ranges. There were 171 homes sold by Realtors in Kihei during 2014.
• The total dollar volume of homes sold was $818,163,161. In 2014, there was $773,479,738 of homes sold in Maui County. That is roughly a 6% increase in the total value of homes sold when comparing this year to last year and the highest dollar volume over the last five years.
• The 941 homes sold was the second highest annual total sales volume over the last five years behind 2013.

• The highest priced condo sale was $8,250,000 for a four bedroom, four and a half bath unit at the Montage Residences Kapalua Bay. That condo has an impressive 4,050 square feet of living space.
• That was one of 83 condos sold over $1,500,000. Of the 83 condos sold, an impressive 13 were over $4,000,000 in price. In 2013, there were 76 condos sold over $1,500,000 with 9 of those sales over $4,000,000. That is a 9% increase in condos over $1,500,000 and a 44% increase in condos over $4,000,000.
• Honua Kai saw the most high end sales activity with 27 closes over $1,500,000. It also led the way for overall sales with 73 total transactions for 2014.
• The lowest priced condo sale on Maui in 2014 was $39,500 for a two bedroom, one and a half bath condo at Harbor Lights.
• The town of Kihei saw the most condo sales activity with 428 total units sold.
• The total dollar volume of condos sold in Maui County during 2014 was $751,850,728. That is down from the $764,301,283 worth of condos sold in 2013. That is roughly a 2% decrease in dollar volume. The 2014 total was the second highest dollar volume over the last five years.

The 1,197 condos sold in 2014 was the third highest annual total over the last five years.

• The highest priced land transaction of 2014 was for a parcel of beachfront land in Ka’anapali. The .87 acre lot sold for $6,900,000.
• That was one of 25 parcels of land sold for over $1,000,000 in 2014. In 2013, there were 28 parcels of land sold for over $1,000,000. That is an 11% decrease.
• Wailea and Makena had the most activity with five sales over $1,000,000.
• The lowest priced land sale was $35,000 for a 1/4 acre lot on Molokai.
• Ka’anapali had the most land sales activity with 27 total lots sold in 2014
• The total dollar volume for =lots sold in Maui County during 2014 was $119,330,445. That is down approximately 23% from last year’s total of $155,596,747. The 2014 total was the second highest total dollar volume of the last five years behind 2013.
• The 166 lots sold was the third highest annual total in the last five years.

• There were 115 bank owned properties that closed in 2014. That was down 5% from the 121 bank owned properties that sold in 2013.
• There were 97 successful short sale transactions completed in 2013. That is down 56% from the 220 short sale transactions that were completed in 2013. This isn’t a big surprise with the equity position of more and more sellers improving.

That’s it for the notable numbers from the 2014 Maui Real Estate market. If you missed it, you can check out our post “Four Trends That We Saw in the 2014 Maui Real Estate Market.” We still have more 2014 year end stats posts coming with additional numbers and analysis of individual condos, neighborhoods and communities from around the island. Stay tuned…

The last of the turkey sandwiches have been consumed and Mele Kalikimaka is playing on the local radio stations. That means it is early December and it is a time to take a sneak peek at the November 2014 Maui Real Estate Statistics. This post takes a look at median sales prices, November pending sales and the sales volume for November as compared to November of 2013. I highlight some of the notable numbers from the November sales. I also provide a few thoughts on market activity and what it means for buyers and sellers who are thinking of entering the Maui Real Estate market. Without further ado, here are the November 2014 Maui Real Estate Stats.

November Maui Real Estate Sales Volumes and Median Prices

By my count, there were 73 homes sold in Maui County during November of 2014 with a median sales price of $590,000. Last November, there were 75 homes sold with a median price of $515,000. That calculates to a 3% drop in sales activity and approximately a 15% increase in the median sales price.

I counted 67 condos reported sold in Maui County this November at a median price of $372,500. In November of 2013 there were 96 condos sold at a median price of $350,000. That is a 30% decrease in sales volume and a 6.4% increase in median price when comparing this year to last year.

There have been 10 lot sales reported in Maui County during November of 2014 with a median sales price of $411,500. Last November, there were 23 sales with a median price of $547,371. That is a 54% drop in sales activity and a 25% drop in median price comparing this November to last November.

Notable Numbers From The November Maui Real Estate Sales

While compiling the November sales volumes and medians, there were some other notable numbers that I came across that I thought were worth sharing.

• The highest priced home sale of the month was $2,350,000 for a 5,529 square foot home with a pool on a two acre lot in the Wailuku Country Estates Subdivision.
• That was one of three home sales over $2,000,000 last month. There was one more sale in Wailuku Country Estates and one sale in the Maunaolu Subdivision located between Makawao and Paia. This was a fairly unusual month for high home sales with no activity occurring in the more traditional resort communities. The two Wailuku Country Estates sales were only the second and third homes to ever sell in Wailuku for over $2,000,000.
• The Montage Residences at Kapalua Bay was home to the highest priced condo sale in November. Since coming to market in June, they have accounted for 80% of the condo sales over $4,000,000. This month’s high sale closed for $4,750,000.
• The Montage sale was one of six closes over $1,500,000. The other five closes included one more transaction at Montage, a sale at Honua Kai, a sale at the Whaler, a Wailea Point close and a close at Hoolei.
• The 67 condo sales this month represented the lowest sales total of the year and the second lowest total in the last two years.
• The highest priced land sale last month occurred in the One Palauea Bay subdivision in Makena. The 1.089 acre lot sold for $3,500,000.
• There were 12 bank owned sales this November compared to seven bank owned sales last November. There were 4 short sales this November compared to 13 last year. This is a continuation of a trend where we have seen a slight increase in bank owned inventory and sales compared to last year, while short sales continue to play a decreased role in the market.

Thoughts on The November Stats

The November sales activity followed recent trends on island. Maui’s home sales totals continue to be very close to what we saw last year. Condo sales are down substantially. Land sales are also down substantially. As discussed in the September and October statistics, this drop in condo activity is driven in large part by a reduction in the inventory of properties for sale at the entry levels of the market. I think volumes may also be dwindling due to the pricing strategies of some sellers. There are still quite a few sellers shooting for prices well above recent sales. If some sellers were to be more realistic about their sales prices, we may get a little bit of a bump in condo sales activity.

The drop off in land sales that we saw this month may not be quite as significant as it appears. Land statistics include both commercial sales and lots that might be used for residential purposes. The November 2013 sales included six commercial new development lots in the Maui Lani subdivision. There was only one commercial sale this November. The Peahi Hui subdivision also had an impact last November with five new development sales.

It is worth making a brief note that changes in median prices are not a direct indicator of changes in value. Medians shift due to changes in values AND shifts in market activity. More high priced sales push medians higher and more low priced sales push medians lower. Small sample sizes can make changes in median particularly dramatic. This difference in Land Medians between this November and last November is a great example. It is safe to say that land values have not dropped 25% compared to last year.

November Pending Sales

While the November Sales weren’t very inspiring, are there brighter days in store for the Maui Real Estate Market? That’s tough to say, but we do have some sense of what future sales might be based on the number of properties that went pending in November.

It was encouraging to see pending home sales were up compared to November of last year. It was even more encouraging to see that the number of pending condo sales was higher than November of last year. I am not sure that this is a sign that the condo market is going to see sustained growth or a turn around from it’s recent activity, but it beats the alternative as we head in to our buying season. Pending contracts for land sales are down again compared to last November.

What Does it All Mean for Buyers and Sellers in The Maui Condo Market.

What does this all mean for buyers and sellers? December officially marks the start of peak buyers season. The increases in visitor numbers during winter months means an increase in potential buyers. Buyers will find varying market conditions depending on the part of the market where they are shopping. Market inventory is greatest at the highest price points in the market. Luxury home and condo sellers will find a good selection to choose from. That said, sellers in the luxury market tend to have deeper reserves so they may or may not be as negotiable on price. The entry level vacation rental condo market has seen inventory decrease significantly over the last 12-18 months. Well priced condos in this segment of the market are tending to go quickly. Conditions are similar for entry level homes with buyer competition particularly fierce for well priced properties. Buyers should be pre-approved before looking at homes and prepared to act quickly when the right opportunity becomes available. Sellers should look closely at current market conditions in their price range and community when looking at go to market strategy. Overpriced properties are sitting in this market. These mixed market conditions require thoughtful representation. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team today for a free consultation. We would welcome the opportunity to learn about your real estate needs and discuss the market.

February is off to a busy start for the Maui Real Estate Team. That has translated into less time available for blogging. I have been in the process of working on our “unofficial” stats for over a week. In the meantime, the good folks at the Realtors Association of Maui beat me to the punch when they released their “official” January Maui Real Estate Statistics. This isn’t the first time that RAM was first out of the gate and it won’t be the last. As a result, I am going to do something of a hybrid official/unofficial post for this month’s stats. In addition to the link to the official stats above, I want to point out a few more numbers that I thought were interesting and provide some context and analysis to this month’s sales data.

There were 63 homes sold in Maui County during January with a median sales price of $550,000. Last January, there were 50 sales at a median price of $399,000. That is a 26% increase in sales volume and a 38% increase in median price.

I counted 61 condo sales on Maui this month with a median price of $287,000. That is actually one more sale than what was reported by RAM. The January 2012 numbers were 91 sales at a median price of $330,000. That is a 33% drop in sales volume and a 13% drop in median price.

There were only 7 land sales reported in Maui County during January 2013 with a median sales price of $615,000. The January 2012 numbers totaled 9 sales at a median price of $350,000. That is a 23% drop in sales activity. I am reticent to comment on the change in median price for fear that it will be misconstrued as a sign of a massive appreciation in land values.

Here are a few other numbers of note Maui’s January Real Estate Sales.

• There were 6 REO or bank owned sales in Maui County during January of 2013. By comparison, there were 29 REO sales in January of 2012. That calculates to a 79% drop in activity.
• The lack of REO activity may have contributed to some of the more frenzied bidding activity I have seen on a property. An entry level REO in Napili was listed for $225,000. By the time the smoke cleared, the sales price for the property was $390,299. That sales price was 73% over the original asking price.
• There were 14 successful short sales that closed during January of 2013. There were 19 short sale closes during January of 2012. That is 24% drop in short sale activity.
• The highest sales price for a home last month was $9,200,000 for a beachfront residential condo at Makena Place. This was the only sale over $2,000,000 last month.
• The highest sales price for a condo was $3,500,000 for a three bedroom/three bath beachfront unit at Honua Kai in the Kaanapali area. This was the only condo sale over $1,500,000. In fact, the next highest condo sale was $790,900.

There were quite a few interesting numbers above. That being said, I wanted to delve into the condo numbers first. Since we were late to the presses with our stats, I have the advantage of seeing some of the local headlines for this month’s stats. One local publication had a sensationalistic headline proclaiming a big drop in condo sales. Was this dip in activity headline worthy? Better yet, what caused this drop? Well, it is hard to say definitively but it is worth noting that the previous two months saw significant condo sales activity. Many sellers were anxious to close before the end of the year to avoid potential tax increases. I would surmise that this may have accelerated the condo activity at the end of the year at the expense of sales after the first of the year. As RAM executive Terry Tolman pointed out in the official stats, when you average the December and January Sales totals you come out to around 100 sales which is in line with what you might expect for an average month this time of year. I do not think the drop in sales numbers is in any way a reflection of future market trends. There have been 171 condos that have gone under contract since the first of the year. That is a pretty healthy number.

The drop in medians is also out of line with recent trends. I think part of that stems again from sellers trying to close before the first of the year. This was a particularly slow month for condo sales in the luxury market. It was pretty eye opening when I saw that the second highest condo sale for the month was $790,900. There are usually a few sales over $1,500,000 each month and quite a few more over $1,000,000.

While the median condo price plummeted, the home median was up substantially over January 2012. If you are a frequent reader of our stats, you will have read about the inventory crunch occurring at the lower ends of the market. Entry level homes are particularly scarce. There were only 14 sales under $400,000 this January. Last January, there were 24 homes sold under $400,000. I would imagine we are going to continue to see elevated median sales prices unless there is an influx of lower priced home inventory.

The land market regressed after a strong close to 2012. Perhaps, that may have been due to my over exuberance in the Unofficial December stats. More likely, we may have seen a similar scenario to the condo market with some sellers trying to close before the end of the calendar year resulting in fewer sales right after the new year. Again, I don’t necessarily see this as a sign of decreasing activity in the land market. As it stands, there are already seven land sales that have been recorded since February 1.

What does this all mean for buyers and sellers? Limited inventory continues to have a significant impact on the Maui Real Estate market. Entry level homes and condos are particularly scarce, but there are shortages of listings in some communities going all the way up to the $1,000,000+ range. Buyers need to be prepared to act quickly when the right opportunities come on the market. If you require financing, getting pre-approved on your loan is a must. It helps you determine your budget and it improves your standing in the eyes of sellers. Sellers are facing an interesting market place. While the situation for sellers is improving, there are things to be aware of if you are listing your property. I have seen a few properties go on the market well above recent comps. The Limited inventory has created enough of a frenzy that buyers are willing to submit offers at or near these premium prices. The challenge comes with appraisal. Appraisal standards are a lot tougher than they were in the boom times. If the comparable sales aren’t there, you won’t get the appraisal you need to move forward on a sale. Other listings that are going on the market for well over recent comparable sales aren’t getting as much interest. Market dynamics are proving to be complex. Either way, well priced properties are going to have a much higher chance of closing successfully.

We would welcome the opportunity to talk to buyers and sellers who are interested in entering the Maui Real Estate market. We look forward to discussing how we can assist you in achieving your goals in the Maui market. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team for a free consultation today.