Demand has been steady for homes and land in West Hawaii, LUVA Real Estate reports for the West Hawaii real estate market update.

Home sales have begun exceeding new inventory, Altos Research, the real time data stats company reported  this month. However, they also reported that 39% of the available homes on the market in Kailua Kona have had a price decrease. Welcome to March, as we approach the end of our high season and snow birds start to pack up and go home and home sellers react to the receding tide of potential buyers by getting more assertive with the price of their home, which they MAY have priced a bit too high knowing the demand has been there since January.

If sellers in North Hawaii priced their homes to meet demand, they did so with the statistics to support that decision. In South Kohala, sales volume increased 50% year over year and was up 71% over last year in the first three months of 2018.  Land sales in South Kohala increased a whopping 685% from 1.6 million in February 2017 to 12.5 million year over year according to data from the Hawaii Information Service. Land sales also increased 29% island wide year to date.

In Kailua-Kona for condos, the number sold in 2017 year to date was 67, but in 2018 only 53 have been sold. The year to date median price for 2017 in North Kona was $350,000 and for 2018 year to date the median price was $312,500 at the end of February 2018. In South Kohala, the median price for a condo was $497,000 in February 2018, a 7.46% increase year over year from $462,500 in February 2017.

LUVA Realtor Lance Owens and President of the West Hawaii Association of Realtors states, “Having been a Realtor here for the past 14 years, and watching Hawaii real estate for 30 years, you need to be able to read between the lines. I really dislike when others make “market adjustments” for reasons that were there a year ago also, but in this case we have to take a look.

I have several buyers in the market for homes that are under the $500,000 range or under $300,000 in condos, and the lack of inventory is terrible, so you need to know that when looking at these numbers.”

“For single family homes in North Kona the number sold in 2017 year to date was 70 and in  2018, it was 63. The median price in 2017 was $629,000 and in 2018 the median price was $560,000. That’s an <-11%> decrease, and that is not what is happening in real life, Owen explained,  “There is no way you could buy that home that sold last year at $629,000 for $569,000 today, it’s just not going to happen.”

“Part of the problem is, there is no inventory in that price point, and people are having to switch to condos and some are looking at vacant land now”, Owen concluded.

In North Kona, volume for residential sales was a bit lower than this time last year, but vacant land sales were up 33%. Many people we have spoken to about buying a home in West Hawaii have expressed their desire to build their own homes after being priced out of the single family home market.

Looking for advice about the market and where the deals are? Contact LUVA Real Estate to get more information on homes that have had price decreases or about new properties that are going on the market now.