Maui’s median sales price for single family homes sold in September rose to $1,025,000, up 3.0% from the year prior, according to the latest data released by the Realtors Association of Maui.

As the median increased, RAM reports the average sales price decreased to $1,465,982, down 4.8%.

Overall inventory of single homes for sale ended the month at 249, up 7.8% from September 2021, boosting the month’s inventory by 45% compared to the same time last year, according to RAM.

Maui County’s real estate market in September continued its slowdown with the number of closed and pending sales declining while inventory and days on the market increased, according to the report. RAM reports the number of home sales fell 50.4% with just 57 closings last month.

In the condominium market, the median sales price was $800,000, up 9.7% from the year before; and sales in September totaled 97, down 46.7% from the year prior when 182 sales were reported, according to RAM.

“On the national level, the US real estate market continues to slow as we move into fall, as rising consumer prices and higher mortgage interest rates squeeze homebuyer budgets and cool activity,” according tot eh RAM report. “With inflation showing little sign of abating, the Federal Reserve implemented another 75-basis-point hike in September, marking the third such rate increase this year. The cost of borrowing has reached multi-year highs on everything from credit cards to auto loans in 2022 as mortgage interest rates topped 6% for the first time since 2008, causing existing home sales to decline for the seventh consecutive month.”

RAM notes that affordability challenges have “priced many buyers out of the market this year,” and buyers who do succeed in purchasing a home are finding that the costs of homeownership have increased significantly. RAM notes that monthly mortgage payments are more than 55% higher than a year ago, according to the National Association of REALTORS®.