HILO — It was a banner year for home sales on Hawaii Island in 2016, with growth projected to carry over into 2017. ADVERTISING HILO — It was a banner year for home sales on Hawaii Island in 2016, with
HILO — It was a banner year for home sales on Hawaii Island in 2016, with growth projected to carry over into 2017.
According to real estate records through November, residential sales were up 11.9 percent over 2015.
“It has been getting better and better for the last five years, so it’s not a surprise that we’re out of the bottom of the pit,” said Nancy Cabral, owner of Coldwell Banker Day-Lum Properties. “There was a little step in ’11, a little step in ’12 — the step just keeps getting better.”
The double-digit overall growth comes in spite of sales numbers falling off or slowing in many West Hawaii districts.
More than a third of sales came in Puna, where sales inventory was highest at 853 units. The district saw a jump of nearly 33 percent over 2015. For comparison, district sales increased just 2.8 percent between 2014 and 2015.
“Puna is the fastest-growing district, hands down,” said Realtor Glenn Swanson of Savio Realty. Swanson is based in the business’s Pahoa office.
“There’s a lot of new construction,” he said. “In Hawaiian Paradise Park, there’s probably one (sale) a week.”
Cabral said she also noticed HPP’s popularity and that the Ainaloa market also was strong last year.
Puna’s relative affordability — the median sales price is $198,000 — is a major factor in its continued growth.
“It has so much land that is readily available for construction or cost-effective housing,” Cabral said.
That affordability is drawing more people from other islands. Hawaii County has the lowest cost of living in the state.
People in Honolulu, for example, “take a look over here, and they take a look at what a house costs in Puna, and they think, ‘Whoa, time to move’ — especially in the retiree market,” said Frank Goodale, president of Clark Realty.
Cabral said she also noticed more people buying homes as a way to diversify their investments. Others are taking advantage of continued low interest rates and easier access to financing.
“A lot of that construction is people are now building a new home for themselves, and then they turn around and sell their current home,” Cabral said.
Sales of vacant lots for development are expected to increase next year.
“Our market is still running below the peak of the market that we had in 2006,” Goodale said. “Honolulu is way ahead of that peak in terms of prices and sales prices. There’s still some potential room for growth in there.”
One of Goodale’s primary concerns in the years ahead is ensuring that processes such as building permits and zoning changes were as streamlined as possible, to encourage growth in high-employment areas such as Hilo.
“If there’s any hitch in that, that’s where it gets unaffordable for locals,” he said.
Ka‘u had the lowest median sales price on the island — $175,000 —while North Kohala had the highest at $710,000.
Cabral said she expected 2017 to continue the upward trend, with Puna continuing as “the growth capital in the state.”
The new international airline route between Kona and Tokyo’s Haneda airport should also boost growth in many areas of the island, Goodale said.
“I see some definite potential bounce for next year from that,” he said.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
