Last week, the Realtors Association of Maui posted their official June 2012 Maui Real Estate Statistics. As with last month, their numbers were pretty similar to what I came up with in my Unofficial stats. As with last month, I am counting one additional condo sale over what the official stats indicate. Without going through the sales line by line, I surmise that there may be a residential condo sale that was reported under both home and condo closes in our database.

When I first saw the official stats, the first thing I did was turn to the statistics overview where RAM Executive Terry Tolman reports on monthly inventory levels. The shrinking inventory trend continues with the number of homes, condo and parcels of land for sale all lower this month. This has been a subject of discussion on The Maui Real Estate blog statistics posts for some time. It was surmised that the shrinking inventory would be source of price stabilization. That is occurring to an extent in some, but not all of the market segments. The other effect is frustrated buyers. Many buyers are having a hard time identifying properties that meet their needs among the shrunken inventory. Patience may well be required as you wait for the right property to come to market. Once that property does come to market, buyers should be prepared to act quickly if the property is well priced. These challenging conditions make it important to find good buyer representation. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team to help find your ideal property.

Earlier this week, the Realtors Association of Maui (RAM) released their Official May 2012 Maui Real Estate Stats. There were a few differences from the numbers I posted in the Unofficial May Maui Real Estate Statistics last week. The official stats included a few more late reported home sales raising the May total to 64. RAM’s official stats also included one less condo and one less land sale. I double checked the stats and it appears I may have over-counted on the land side. The condo numbers in the database appear to match my unofficial numbers. Perhaps one of the condo sales was a condominium home that RAM counted among the home sales. Either way, these differences are relatively small and don’t impact the overall market trends. The one thing that I found truly noteworthy in the official stats was located in the executive summary by Terry Tolman. Terry has been keeping tab on the inventory in the official stats for some time. Yet again, we saw another drop in the total number of homes, condos and land on the market. I know the absence of inventory in some segments of the market is having an impact. It is leading to bidding wars in price ranges and geographies where well priced properties are scant. It is also leaving some buyers on the sidelines. Buyers with strong credit and lesser down payments are having a tough time competing in these competitive segments of the market against cash buyers. Other buyers are being forced to wait for extended periods for inventory that suits their needs comes on the market. As mentioned in other blog posts, there may be some relief on the way. It has been anticipated that we should see some additional bank owned inventory coming on to the market this summer or fall. We will continue to monitor and update inventories via posts on the Maui Real Estate Blog. In the interim, Contact The Maui Real Estate Team with questions or for assistance buying or selling Maui property.