Report: Housing market activity ‘uptick’ possible
Median sales prices for single-family home in Maui County was $1.16M
To start the new year, the median sales price for a single-family home in Maui County in January was $1.16 million, slightly higher than December’s price of $1.08 million, according to a recent report by the Realtors Association of Maui.
While median sales prices dipped during the second half of the year as both buyers and sellers remained cautious, the median sales price in January was more on par with the start of last year, when the median price was just shy of $1.16 million and the next several months saw rates hovering just below or above $1.2 million.
On the other hand, condominium sales were the lowest they’ve been over the past year, averaging $657,500 in January. The second-lowest median price over the past year was in May at $717,500.
“Although home prices remain high, mortgage rates declined steadily throughout January, falling to their lowest level since September, sparking a recent surge in mortgage demand,” the report said. “Lower rates should aid in affordability and may soon lead to an uptick in market activity ahead of the spring selling season.”
Meanwhile, new listings and closed sales continue to be far below what they were a year ago.
In January, there were 68 new listings for single-family homes in Maui County, which was down 45.2 percent compared to the same month in 2022 when there were 124 new listings.
In total, there were 58 single-family homes sold in Maui County for January, down 37 percent from the 92 sold in January 2022.
As sales slow, time on the market is increasing, the report said. During the last few months of 2022, homes were on the market for much longer than in
the previous year. In December, for example, the average number of days that homes had been on the market when they sold (136) was a 30.8 percent increase over December 2021.
In January, however, the average number of days on market nearly matched last year’s numbers — 119 days versus 120 days in January 2022.
With that extra time and the return of seller concessions, buyers have more negotiating power
when shopping for a home, the report said.
New listings for condominiums also dropped 40.5 percent in January compared to last year. There were 119 new condos listed in January but 200 were newly listed in January 2022.
In total, there were 54 condos sold in Maui County for January, which is a big drop of 65.4 percent from the 156 sold in January 2022.
Condos that sold in January had spent an average of 94 days on the market, a 9.3 percent increase from January 2022 when it was
86 days.
For single-family homes in January, most sold in Wailuku, with a total of 14 and a median sales price of $975,000. The second-highest number of single-family homes sold in Maui County was in Kahului, with 10, for which the median sales price was $922,500.
Eight homes were sold in Haiku with a median sale price of just over $1.4 million.
The Wailea-Makena area saw the highest median price tags at $5.7 million. Three homes were sold there in January.
For condominiums, the area that
saw the most sales in January was the Napili-Kahana-Honokowai area with 16 units and a median price tag of $530,500. Kihei was next with 13 units sold for a median sales price of $770,000.
The most expensive condos were also in the Wailea-Makena area, showing a median sales price in January at just over $3 million. Four units were sold there last month.
The report noted that “the US housing market began the year in a state of rebalance, with many buyers and sellers remaining cautious while they wait to see where the
market is headed.”
Nationally, pending sales rose 2.5 percent month-to-month, marking the first increase since May, while sales of existing homes fell 1.5 percent as of the last measure, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Demand for housing persists across the board, but higher mortgage interest rates have cut into housing affordability, with total home sales down 17.8 percent last year compared to 2021, the report said.