HILO — Between 2008 and 2015, mainland buyers purchased more homes in Hawaii County than anywhere else in the state, according to a new report.
All told, 31.8 percent of Hawaii home sales to mainlanders were on the Big Island, totaling 10,456. The City and County of Honolulu was close behind with 30.6 percent, Maui County took 28.4 percent and Kauai County brought up the rear with 9.2 percent, according to a November report by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Kona had the largest share on the island, with 50 percent of its home sales going to mainland buyers. A total of 3,155 homes were sold to mainlanders, compared with 2,923 to local buyers and 237 being sold to foreign buyers.
Also big draws for mainland buyers were the Kohala Coast with 3,007 sales and Puna with 2,593 sales. Kohala Coast homes sold to mainlanders had the highest average sale price in the state, at more than $1 million. Kohala was the only subzone in the state to break the average $1 million sale price.
State Economist Eugene Tian said Tuesday that despite the high numbers, as a percentage of total sales volume, purchases of Hawaii Island homes by mainland buyers still lagged behind other counties.
“For all homes sold on the Big Island for those seven years and nine months, about 56.9 percent were sold to Hawaii residents. Only 39.7 were sold to mainlanders and only 3.4 percent to foreigners,” he said.
Forty-three percent of Kauai sales and nearly 45 percent of Maui sales were to mainlanders. The City and County of Honolulu had the lowest percentage, with 11.7 percent of homes being sold to mainland buyers.
Statewide, home sales — including condominiums — to mainland buyers have declined during the last six years. In 2009, they accounted for 25.7 percent of all sales, and in 2015, they accounted for 19 percent of all home sales in Hawaii.
Sales to foreigners also declined in recent years, going from a high of 5 percent in 2011 to 3.2 percent in 2015, according to the report. In total, 891 homes on Hawaii Island were sold to foreign buyers between 2008 and 2015. Foreign purchases accounted for 3.4 percent of all sales, slightly higher than the state average.
The biggest draw for foreign buyers was the Kohala Coast, with 415 purchases, representing 5.6 percent of that subzone’s sales.
Meanwhile, sales to local buyers increased during the last few years.
Local buyers accounted for 66.5 percent of home sales in the state in 2010, compared with 77.8 percent in 2015.
Puna, the Hawaii subzone with the lowest average home sales price in the state, accounted for the most local buyers on the Big Island, with 4,121. Local buyers accounted for 59.9 percent of all sales there. However, Hilo was the subzone with the largest percentage of homes being bought by locals, with 79 percent, or 2,571 in all.
Tian said the report is the first of its kind for Hawaii, providing data that has never been available publicly before. He added that in February, a second study will provide a closer look at home sales, including separating sales data on single-family homes and condominiums.
For more information, visit dbedt.hawaii.gov.
