The real estate market report for June incorporates statistics from the Hawaii Information Service statistics for homesthat went into escrow in April and closed in May, thus not containing information about the housing market after the lava eruption started on May 3.
With that said, however, anecdotal reports state that a few homes have fallen out of escrow from potential homebuyers who may have had second thoughts about living an active volcanic island. However, plenty of homes in all ranges of prices from Kona to Kohala and Waimea have continued to close escrow and these new homeowners eagerly await the opportunity to call Hawaii Island home.
May 2018 market snapshot:
In North Kona, year over year data for May showed that in 2017, 50 single family homes were sold and in 2018, 52 homes were sold. For condos, in both 2017 and 2018, 43 were sold in May. Year to date for single-family homes shows the exact amount of homes have sold and ten fewer condos this year than last were sold from January to May. The median price for single-family homes was $659,913 this year, an 11.75% increase than a year ago from $590,500. Condominium prices rose year over year 7.94% from $315,000 to $340,000.
In South Kohala, 7 more single-family homes sold this year than last, and 28 more condos sold this year compared to 25 last year. The median price of a single-family residence rose 5.99% from $542,500 to $575,000 while prices decreased for condos from $575,000 last May to $511,500 this year.
Vacant land in North Kona dropped a bit year over year from $275,000 in 2017 to $230,000 in 2016 with 9 sales in 2018 compared to 11 sales in 2017.
District update
If you follow our market update, we had mentioned that vacant land sales in the Puna district have been exceeding 10% each month in price appreciation for months as people were seeking affordable avenues to homeownership. With much of Puna experiencing an active lava flow, evacuation and road closures, compounded with the recent news of the state disallowing homebuilding on Lava Zone 1 land, the values will reflect what has happened this month in that region. We continue to offer our thoughts to the displaced residents and continue to encourage our agents and local residents to support the Hawaii Island Food Basket.
LUVA Realtor, Larry Roy, who lives in Mountain View and specializes in sales on the East Side of Hawaii Island and Volcano, shares the following insight:
“As for the market on this side of Hawaii Island, everything is still steady. I am sure a few deals are obviously canceled due to properties being consumed by lava. Some deals, including one of my listings, have been extended until things stabilize. It is hard to get a feel for buyer sentiment since everyone is likely waiting to see what is untouched/accessible when these events slow down or stop. There is still a lot of land available, but selling quickly (.5 acres and up) many 1-2 acre lots starting at $10,000. There have been five, 2 acre lots on my street alone in the last 6 months selling in the 20k price range.
I would imagine there will be many folks looking for new homes (unfortunately) so in the following months, we may see an increase in home searches for those local folks who are forced to relocate. Also, unfortunately, this may begin to drive prices up, but I have no indication of that at the moment.”
If you would like to discuss the current market with one of our agents, we have the latest information for the area you are looking in, so please contact us today. We can also place you on a new listing portal that allows you to keep track of your home searches.