Kahului, Maui. Photo courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority / Ron Garnett .

By Sonia Isotov

The median price for a single family residential home in Maui County in October 2011 was $435,000, compared to $460,000 last year, according to figures released by the Realtors Association of Maui this week.

Those figures were based on the sales of single-family homes from January 2011 through October 2011, which were up 9% with 745 sales compared to 686 single-family homes sold in 2010 by October.

Condominium sales were flat at 989 for both 2010 and 2011 through October. The median sales price of a condominium sold in Maui County in 2011 through October also dropped in price when compared to the same period last year. January through October 2011, the median sales price of a condominium in Maui County was $320,000, a 17% drop for the same time period last year through October 2010 when the median sales price was $385,000.

“Strong buyer-showing activity is now evidenced in actual reported sales, with multiple offers competing for well priced properties. Inventories have declined 18% over the past 12 months in Residential and Condo classes. Many short sales and REO (bank owned) properties will need to be absorbed as sales before we can move ahead to a more normal marketplace,” stated Terry Tolman, chief staff executive for the Realtors Association of Maui, in the report released today.

“Interest rates are remaining near historic record lows which may help motivate would-be buyers to go ahead and buy if they can qualify. Current world and US events will have ripple effects on cost of living, consumer confidence, and our real estate market.”

See the October Statistics report in its entirety at www.ramaui.com/.