Maui County condo median sales price sets all-time record at $908,000

Harbor Lights condominiums are seen from Kahului Harbor. PC: Kehaulani Cerizo Spiked by luxury sales, the median sales price for Maui County condominiums last month set a record high at close to $1 million, a new report said. Maui County condo prices increased nearly 25% year over year to $908,000, according to a Realtors Association of Maui market activity report released this week. About a third of the condos that sold last month were in luxury areas with medians well over $1 million to $2 million.  Single-family homes, meanwhile, saw a median sales price of $1.07 million, which was again the highest in the state. Kauaʻi’s median was $1.05 million, Oahu’s was $999,000, and Hawaiʻi island was $459,500, according to Locations Hawai’i. Median sales price is the point at which half of the sales sold for more and half sold for less, not accounting for seller concessions, in a given month. While the median sales prices stayed high for Maui County, new listings, pending sales and overall sales continued to plummet. The decline in existing home sales has been recorded nationwide over the last 12 months as affordability constraints continue to limit homebuyer activity, national reports said. Maui County single-family home sales dropped 50% year over year to 44 homes. Pending sales fell nearly 36% to 63 homes. And new listings fell 45% to 70 homes. Days on the market until sale fell 12% to 102, and percent of list priced received stayed flat at about 97%.  Inventory increased year over year by nearly 22% — to 281 homes. Condo prices in Maui County have remained in post-pandemic highs of the $800,000 range. The last median sales price record of $850,000 was set in November of last year. Prior to that, the high was $820,000 in April of 2022. While prices are high, sales took a nosedive last month. Maui County condo sales fell nearly 60% to 66 units last month. Pending sales fell 55% to 82 and new listings fell 56% to 84. While inventory rose about 36% to 225 units, the condos for sale are spending longer on the market. Days on the market until sale increased about 22% to 90 days.  When people are buying, they are slightly under the listing price. Percent of list price received dropped 2% from 100.4% to 98.4%.  Neighbor Island buyers and sellers continued to find themselves in a stalemate last month, according to Coldwell Banker Island Properties. With mortgage interest rates forecasted to bounce between 6% to 7% in the foreseeable future, buyers and sellers were balancing housing affordability and the cost of switching properties. “While many speculate as to the direction of the housing market, one thing remains for certain – a lack of properties for sale continues to keep median prices elevated even though there is less buyer competition, especially at entry-level prices,” Steve Baker, Coldwell Banker Island Properties principal broker, said in a news release.  For Maui County single-family homes, more than half the sales had median sales prices well more than $1 million. Median sales prices topped $3 million in Kā’anapali, Makawao/Olinda/Hāliʻimaile and Wailea/Mākena. The lowest median sales price was on Molokaʻi, $345,000 and on Lanaʻi, $757,000. For condos, the median sales price topped $1 million and $2 million in Kā’anapali, Kapalua, Nāpili/Kahana/Honokōwai, Wailea/Mākena and Lāna’i. The lowest median sales prices were in Kahului, $275,000, and Wailuku, $400,000. The National Association of Realtors said buyer demand is down from peak levels, and price growth has slowed even though prices are up from a year ago.  Sellers have been cutting prices and offering sales incentives in bids to draw buyers, the association said.  “The slight decline in mortgage rates earlier this year convinced some buyers to come off the sidelines, but with rates ticking up again in recent weeks, buyers are once again pulling back, causing sales activity to remain down heading into spring,” it added. The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate in February by a quarter-percentage point to 4.50% to 4.75%, its eighth rate hike since March of last year, when the interest rate was nearly zero, according to the association. Mortgage interest rates have dipped slightly from their peak last fall, leading pending sales to increase 8.1% month-to-month as of last measure.

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After pandemic buying frenzy, Maui home prices may ease — but not by much

A Kahului parcel with two homes is listed for sale Thursday at $995,000. PC: Kehaulani Cerizo Although Maui County’s real estate market is facing uncharted territory after the frenzied home buying of the pandemic, Realtors Association of Maui said signs point to slightly softer prices heading into the new year. Low inventory, though, will keep price tags relatively high, and potential buyers shouldn’t expect costs to plummet to pre-pandemic numbers. “Because you still have people a little reluctant to put their place on the market unless they know where they’re going to go, the inventory is still not so much and days on market are a little longer . . . That sort of indicates that prices will soften a little — but they’re not going to go crashing down,” Karin S. Carlson, RAM president, told Maui Now this week. Median sales price for single-family homes in December ticked up less than a percentage point year over year to $1.08 million, according to market statistics released by RAM earlier this week. In 2021, the median was $1.07 million. In 2020, it was $849,000. For condominium homes, the December median increased 10.5% to $773,500. In 2021, it was $650,000. In 2020, it was $557,000. Median sales price is the point at which half the sales sold for more and half sold for less in a given month. Meanwhile, sales last month dropped 45% to 66 for single-family houses, and they fell 61% to 68 for condominium homes, the report said. Days on the market increased 30% for single-family homes and 16% for condos. December caps a year that took a sharp turn from the frenzied buying at the heights of the pandemic, where homes drew multiple cash offers above asking price, houses sold fast and interest rates were in the 3% range. January through May 2022 saw the spillover of busy 2020 and 2021, Carlson said. Then, due to a combination of factors, the housing market started to slow down. “In May, it was a pivot: It just started to slow down, and you saw less people looking, less people asking,” Carlson said. “Days on market starting to go up. People started to shift their listing price downward if they really needed to get it sold.” RAM’s president said the change was tied to several factors, including people concerned about the economy, the volatile stock market and the Fed aiming to squash inflation by increasing interest rates. A December report from University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization said Maui home prices dropped 13% since May, but interest rates continued to keep potential buyers from taking action. Interest rates reached a nearly 20-year high of 7.1% in November 2022. Now, they’re hovering in the 6% range. Even with the slowdown, Maui County’s lack of inventory will continue to keep prices high because there are not many homes from which to choose, Carlson said. Plus, the real estate market remains strong and the economy isn’t as bad as it was in the middle of the pandemic, she added. “At least that’s the way it looks right now — we’re kind of holding steady,” Carlson said. Still, the future for the post-pandemic housing market remains hard to predict. “We’ve been saying this for a couple years now — we are in uncharted territory,” Carlson said. “We’re all in this together, and we’re working our way through. Every year’s been like we’ve never seen anything quite like this before.”

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