Kauai, Big Isle housing markets fine before COVID-19 impact
Sales and median prices of homes on Hawaii island and Kauai were mainly higher in March ahead of expected declines stemming from efforts to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
The only drop within primary segments of the two neighbor island housing markets was the number of condominiums sold on Hawaii island, according to a report released this week by Hawaii Information Service based on data from the Hawaii Island Realtors and Kauai Board of Realtors trade associations.
Some local residential real estate brokers expect a downturn in transactions and possibly prices in upcoming months that could be more severe on the neighbor islands where more vacation homes and resort condos are sold to visitors.
Hawaii completely closed the state to tourism last month in the fight against COVID-19, and this hurts vacation home sale activity. Also, a surge in close to 200,000 residents filing for unemployment since the start of March while others have had pay or work hours cut is reducing the pool of local homebuyers.
Typically, completed sales reported in a given month reflect signed purchase agreements made one to three months before.
In March, the biggest gain in the two markets was on Kauai, where the number of single-family homes sold jumped 71% to 53 in March from 31 in the same month last year.
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Hawaii Information’s report includes sales of previously owned homes and new homes sold by developers, so sales volume can swing dramatically when developers record bulk sales.
Kauai single-family homes sold for a median $750,000 last month, up 23% from $609,919 a year earlier.
The median price is a point at which half the sales were at a higher price and half at a lower price. This measure can be influenced by the size, age, location and quality of homes sold.
In Kauai’s condo market, the number of sales rose 15% — by five sales — to 39 last month from 34 a year earlier.
On Hawaii island, there were 234 single-family homes sold in March, up 11% from 210 sales a year earlier. The median price rose 10% to $417,500 from $381,360.
Big Island condo sales decreased by 10% to 64 last month from 71 a year earlier. The median price rose 9% to $410,000 from $375,000.
