Over the last couple of days, I have been trying to steal a few moments to figure out the unofficial June 2009 Maui Real Estate Statistics. I have included the numbers I was able to find below. I am going to be a little more brief than usual on my commentary. I will have a few additional comments when I publish the official June stats as soon as they are published by the Realtors Association of Maui.
There were 61 homes sold county wide in June at a median price of $498,100. This compares to June 2008 numbers of 76 homes sold at a median of $606,000. That is a 20% drop in volume year to year.
There were 44 condos sold in Maui County last month at a median of $490,500. This compares to 56 condos at a median of $577,500 in June of 2008. This equates to a 21% drop in volume verses last year.
There were 7 parcels of land sold last month at a median of $512,000. There were 11 lots sold at a median of $700,000 last June. This is a 36% drop in volume.
Of the properties that were sold last month, there were 15 sales of bank owned properties and 7 short sales that closed. Twenty-three percent of all home sales were either short sales or bank owned properties. Eighteen percent of the condo sales were bank owned properties or short sales. There were no land short sales or bank owned property closes. These percentages are down a little from the previous few months. That being said, I don’t believe the Maui Short Sale and Bank owned market is diminishing. The current inventory of listed properties continues to include a significant number of bank owned, short sale and distressed properties.
The most striking thing about this months real estate statistics is the difference in sales volume between June of 2008 and June of 2009. Earlier this year, we were seeing a year to year drop in sales volume that ranged between 40 and almost 70 percent for condos and homes. At first glance, the 20-21% drop that we saw when comparing June of 2009 and June of 2008 is a pretty significant improvement. Does this mean we are seeing a recovery in market conditions? June of 2009 was the best month for home sales this year. When you consider that the June 2008 home number included a number of long term new development closes, it makes the 2009 numbers look even better. That being said part of the reason that the numbers look better year to year is that the bar was lowering as the year progressed in 2008. Sales numbers started to go down as the year progressed in 2008 due to the worsening recession. This is particularly the case with condos. June of 2008 was by far the worst month of the first half of that year for condo sales. June of 2009 was pretty pedestrian compared to the other months of the first of 2009 for condo sales. Of course, it is important to remember that this is also just one month’s data. One month does not make a trend. We will need to keep an eye for more sustained improvement over the next months.
While compiling statistics, I noticed this was arguably the best month for luxury sales this year. We had our highest sales price of the year at $11,250,000 for a luxury home on Keawakapu beach. We also saw 11 condo sales over $1,000,000. That was by far the most activity we have seen in the condo market over $1,000,000. That explains the big jump in median prices for June compared to the last couple of months. Overall prices continue to adjust downward, but the median increased $175,000 over last month. It makes sense when you consider that 25% of last month’s condo transactions were priced over $1,000,000. While a positive sign for the luxury condo market, it bears repeating that one month’s stats does not constitute a market trend.
As I mentioned above, I will have more commentary next week with the official statistics. In the interim, please feel free to contact us with any questions on the Maui Real Estate market.
