Maui Home Sales Inch Up, Prices Continue to Fall

Maui residential home sales continue to climb with prices continuing to fall. File photo.

By Sonia Isotov

Data released last week by the Maui Board of Realtors indicates February 2011 home sales rose 9%, while the median sales price decreased 7%, compared to the same period last year.

The median price for single-family homes on Maui fell 7 percent last year to $450,000 from $482,776 in 2010.

The Maui County average home sales price for February 2011 rose 1% to $716,571 from $716,571 in February 2010. Total home sales value for Maui County rose 7% to $78,380,919 million from $73,090,275 million for the same time periods.

In February 2010, the median price for condominium on Maui fell 19% to $332,500 from $412,500 for the same period last year. Average condo sale prices are down 24% over last year same time, and sales are up 7 %. Average prices fell $678,244 last year February 2010 to $513.007 this year February 2011.

In releasing the new data, Chief Staff Executive Terry Tolman, Maui Board of Realtors, outlined in a statement the following recent developments should be noted when looking at Maui’s real estate market today:

• Anecdotal evidence from real estate agents, lenders and escrow personnel indicate that strong buyer-showing activity is now showing in actual reported sales;
• Residential and condo inventories have declined somewhat and include many short sales and REO (bank owned) properties which will need to be absorbed as sales before we can move ahead to a more normal marketplace.
• Interest rates are remaining near historic record lows which may help motivate would-be buyers to go ahead and buy if they can qualify.