WAILUKU, Maui — Maui’s real estate market is continuing to show signs of returning to normalcy, following the upheaval of the recession several years ago that left in its wake widespread foreclosures and short sales in Maui County.
As recently as February 2012, the percentage of foreclosures and other distressed properties in the market for a 12-month period was 43.4 percent for single-family homes in the county. In February 2013, it fell to 31.8 percent. Last year, it was at 17.3 percent, and in February it was down to 12.8 percent, according to statistics released by the Realtors Association of Maui.
For condominiums in February 2012, the percentage of foreclosures and short-sale properties was 33.5 percent. A year later, it was 18.9 percent. Last year, it was down to 9.7 percent, and this year, the percentage dropped to 7.8 percent, the Realtors association figures show.
Stability was evident in single-family home sale prices. The median price of a home in February was $558,625, virtually unchanged from February 2014 and 3.2 percent off January’s median of $577,000.
Looking at the past year, the median price for homes was up five months in month-over-month comparisons, down six months and there was no change in September when the median price remained at $570,000 — the same price as August. The highest median price in the past year was in March 2014, when the price hit $590,500. The low point was in June, $530,000.
Prices were up and down for condominiums as well, with prices up six months and down six months in month-over-month comparisons. In the last year, the high point was in February at $475,000, and the low point came in November at $366,250.
Looking at February in isolation, there appears to be a dramatic upswing, The Maui News reported. Last month’s median price for condominiums was $475,000, a jump of 37.7 percent from the same month a year ago and up 25.7 percent from January. And, February’s condo median price was the highest mark for such units since March 2010, when the median price of a condo in Maui County hit $499,000. In that same month five years ago, the median price for single-family homes was lower, at $460,000, which was the only time the median price of condos was higher than homes since at least January 2010.
Single-family home sales volume was 60 units in February, no change from the number sold in the same month last year, but it was 15, or 20 percent, fewer than January’s 75 units. Sales volume for condos was up to 93 units in February, a 4.5 percent increase over the 89 units sold in February 2014, and a 12 percent increase over January’s 83 units.
Central Maui continued to be the hottest market for single-family home sales, with 27 units sold in February, up 80 percent from the 15 sold in the same month last year and 17.4 percent higher than the 23 units that exchanged hands in January. The region with the second most home sales was Kihei, where eight single-family homes sold. That sales volume in South Maui was down 53 percent from the 17 units sold both in February 2014 and in January.
For the first two months of the year, single-family home prices are up 26 percent to $507,441 in Central Maui and up 18 percent to $688,000 in Kihei. The lowest median home prices (for which data are available) can be found include Nahiku, $265,000; Molokai, $342,500; and Hana, $374,950. The highest priced homes are in Kaanapali, nearly $2 million; Lahaina, $1.9 million; Olowalu, $1.48 million; and Wailea/Makena, $1.2 million.
On Lanai, where real estate prices have been volatile since most of the island was purchased by billionaire Larry Ellison in June 2012, median home sales prices were down 17 percent in the year’s first two months to $408,500.
For condos, Kihei outpaced sales in all other regions with 30 units sold in February, although that was off 3.2 percent from the 31 sold in the same month last year and down 11.8 percent from the 34 sold in January. The Napili/Kahana/Honokowai region was second with 14 sales, although that was down 39 percent from the 23 sold in the same month last year, but up 55.5 percent from the nine sold in January.
For the first two months of the year, median condo prices were up 1 percent in Kihei to $338,500, and they’ve jumped 33 percent to $445,000 in Napili/Kahana/Honokowai. The lowest median condo prices were on Molokai, $65,000; Central Maui and Maalaea, both $300,000; and Kihei, $338,500. The highest condo prices were in Kula/Ulupalakua/Kanaio, (one sale only) $2.57 million; Spreckelsville/Paia/Kuau, (one sale) $1.75 million; Kapalua and Lanai, both roughly $1 million.