Obviously, the resort real estate market throughout Hawaii has seen better days but some indications are suggesting the worst is over, or at the very least is nearly over. There are still gains to be made but some analysts are reporting that the evidence points to the market hitting bottom in the final quarter of 2009.
For three years from the beginning 2005 to the end of 2007 resort real estate in Honolulu was flying high. Resort residential real estate brought $2.5 billion or more in each of those years while 2008 saw that number drop to $1.7 billion and an even further drop to $1.3 billion in 2009. These real estate woes were experienced country-wide in conjunction with failing financial markets.
However, signs of a turnaround seem clear. While average prices dropped nearly 20 per cent over 2009 resort real estate prices continued to rise and this despite a major drop in the number of sales. However, these figures give conflicting pictures as developers hurried to complete project all over Hawaii and many of these units had been sold in advance for higher prices. In fact, some of these units would have been sold as far back as 2006 when the markets were booming.
As the past 2 years have made their mark on the financial and real estate markets, average prices are starting to be a little more realistic. Some of these properties that were sold aren’t manageable by the buyers anymore so they go back to the developer and it returns on the market as a resale. Even if the units are brand new, they’re selling for less.
In 2009, the average closed price actually dropped compared to the 2008 figure of $1,552,536 to $1,240,831. Typically, the resale market isn’t affected by developer closings. Most of the drop in prices seems to have happened between the middle of 2007 and the middle of 2009 but they’re starting to stabilize. In fact, as these prices have leveled out, sales have increased from around 125 per quarter to nearly 200 in the final quarter of 2009.
In addition, there appear to be a lot more people in the market looking for a great deal. These bargain hunters have money to spend and they may be the motivating factors in market turnaround.
Posted in Maui Real Estate, Hawaii Real Estate |
Read our Recent Newsletter.
Join Our Mailing List and receive your FREE Maui Real Estate Guide now!
